Difference between revisions of "Karma"
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+ | [[Karma]] ([[Sanskrit]], also [[karma]], [[Pāli]]: [[Kamma]]) means "{{Wiki|action}}" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or [[thinks]] is a [[karma]]. | ||
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+ | In [[Buddhism]], the term [[karma]] is used specifically for those [[actions]] which spring from the [[intention]] ([[Sanskrit]]: [[cetanā]], [[Pali]]: [[cetana]]) of an unenlightened [[being]]. [[karma]] ([[yin-guo]]): | ||
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+ | It refers to the [[universal law of cause and effect]] whereby positive [[actions]] produce [[happiness]] and [[negative actions]] produce [[suffering]]. | ||
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+ | [[Karma]] literally means [[action]] or the [[physical]], [[verbal]], or [[mental]] acts that imprint [[habitual tendencies]] in the [[mind]]. | ||
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+ | Upon meeting with suitable [[conditions]], these [[habits]] ripen and become [[manifest]] in {{Wiki|future}} events. | ||
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+ | All [[karma]] created in the {{Wiki|present}} [[life]] and previous [[lives]] is stored in the [[alaya-vijnana]] or the [[eighth consciousness]]. | ||
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+ | One’s [[karma]] will determine where one goes after [[death]] if one is an unenlightened or ordinary [[being]]. | ||
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+ | It is also important to realize that we cannot fully understand the precise workings of [[karma]]. Only a [[Buddha]] can do this as the [[Buddha]] tells us in the [[Acintita Sutta]] ([[Unconjecturable]]) . | ||
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+ | These bring about a [[fruit]] ([[Sanskrit]], [[Pali]]: [[phala]]) or result (S., P.: [[vipāka]]; the two are often used together as [[vipākaphala]]), either within the {{Wiki|present}} [[life]], or in the context of a {{Wiki|future}} [[rebirth]]. | ||
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+ | Other [[Indian]] [[religions]] have different [[views]] on [[karma]]. [[Karma]] is the engine which drives the [[wheel]] of the cycle of uncontrolled [[rebirth]] (S., P. [[saṃsāra]]) for each [[being]]. | ||
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+ | In the early texts it is not, however, the only [[causal]] {{Wiki|mechanism}} influencing the [[lives]] of [[sentient beings]]. | ||
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+ | As one [[scholar]] states, "the [[Buddhist theory of action and result]] ([[karmaphala]]) is fundamental to much of [[Buddhist doctrine]], because it provides a coherent model of the functioning of the [[world]] and its [[beings]], which in turn [[forms]] the [[doctrinal]] basis for the [[Buddhist]] explanations of the [[path of liberation]] from the [[world]] and its result, [[nirvāṇa]]." | ||
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[[Karma]] is the [[law of cause and effect]] embedded in [[Dependent Origination]]. | [[Karma]] is the [[law of cause and effect]] embedded in [[Dependent Origination]]. | ||
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− | [[Karma]] is a [[universal]] | + | [[Karma]], at its most basic, is our [[action]] and the result of that [[action]]. |
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+ | The choices we make with our [[body]], [[speech]] and [[mind]] affect us and others. | ||
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+ | The results can sometimes be seen, yet we are often unaware of them. | ||
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+ | Under the [[right]] [[conditions]], a butterfly flapping its wings in the Pacific can [[cause]] a hurricane in the Atlantic. | ||
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+ | Equally, our [[actions]] have {{Wiki|consequences}} far beyond our [[imagining]] - {{Wiki|consequences}} both for ourselves and others. | ||
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+ | ==[[Karma is a universal law]] - a [[truth of existence]]== | ||
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+ | [[Buddhism]] places specific {{Wiki|emphasis}} on [[karma]] because every [[action]], [[conscious]] or [[unconscious]], and its result leaves an imprint on the [[mind]] - a sort of forward momentum that [[influences]] all successive [[life]] events. | ||
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+ | [[Being]] {{Wiki|aware}} of the [[law of karma]] helps reinforce our [[practice]]. | ||
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+ | The teachings and their guidelines support an {{Wiki|individual}} in creating the [[right]] [[conditions]] for [[enlightenment]]. | ||
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+ | And along the way, the teachings help modify our [[actions]] ([[karma]]) in [[order]] to promote [[happiness]] for ourselves and others. | ||
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=={{Wiki|Etymology}} & terms in translation== | =={{Wiki|Etymology}} & terms in translation== | ||
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− | ==[[Karma]] | + | The [[word]] [[karma]] derives from the [[verbal]] [[root]] kṛ, which means "do, make, perform, [[accomplish]]." |
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+ | [[Karma]] is "the {{Wiki|nominative}} singular [[form]] of the neuter [[word]] [[karman]], which means 'act, [[action]], performance, [[deed]].' | ||
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+ | In {{Wiki|grammatical}} usage, [[karman]] refers to the direct [[object]] in a sentence, the recipient of the [[action]] indicated by the verb." | ||
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+ | In the {{Wiki|Devanagari}} [[script]] [[karma]] is rendered [[कर्मन्]]; the [[Pāli]] variant is [[kamma]]. The terms in translation are as follows: {{Wiki|Traditional Chinese}}: [[業]], [[yè]], [[Burmese]]: ကမၼ, Standard [[Tibetan]]: <big><big><big>{{BigTibetan|[[ལས།]]}}</big></big></big> [[las]] (pronounced [[ley]]), [[Thai]]: กรรม gam, {{Wiki|Sinhalese}}: කර්ම [[karma]], {{Wiki|Japanese}}: [[業]] or [[ごう]], [[gou]]. | ||
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+ | ==[[Karma in the early sutras]]== | ||
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+ | In the early [[sutras]], as found in the [[Pali Canon]] and the [[Agamas]] preserved in {{Wiki|Chinese}} translation, "there is no single major systematic [[exposition]]" on the [[subject]] of [[karma]] and "an account has to be [[put together]] from the dozens of places where [[karma]] is mentioned in the texts." | ||
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+ | Nevertheless, the [[Buddha]] emphasized his [[doctrine of karma]] to the extent that he was sometimes referred to as [[kammavada]] (the [[holder of the view of [karma]]) or [[kiriyavada]] (the [[promulgator of the consequence of karma]]). | ||
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In the [[Nibbedhika Sutta]] ([[Anguttara Nikaya]] 6.63) the [[Buddha]] said: | In the [[Nibbedhika Sutta]] ([[Anguttara Nikaya]] 6.63) the [[Buddha]] said: | ||
− | : "[[Intention]] (P. [[cetana]], S. [[cetanā]]) I tell you, is [[kamma]]. Intending, one does [[kamma]] by way of [[body]], [[speech]], & {{Wiki|intellect}}." | + | : "[[Intention]] (P. [[cetana]], S. [[cetanā]]) I tell you, is [[kamma]]. |
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+ | Intending, one does [[kamma]] by way of [[body]], [[speech]], & {{Wiki|intellect}}." | ||
[[File:Start_s.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Start_s.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
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In the [[Upajjhatthana Sutta]] (AN 5.57), the [[Buddha]] states: | In the [[Upajjhatthana Sutta]] (AN 5.57), the [[Buddha]] states: | ||
− | : "I am the owner of my [[karma]]. I inherit my [[karma]]. I am born of my [[karma]]. I am related to my [[karma]]. I [[live]] supported by my [[karma]]. Whatever [[karma]] I create, whether good or [[evil]], that I shall inherit." | + | : "I am the [[owner]] of my [[karma]]. I inherit my [[karma]]. I am born of my [[karma]]. I am related to my [[karma]]. I [[live]] supported by my [[karma]]. Whatever [[karma]] I create, whether good or [[evil]], that I shall inherit." |
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+ | ===[[Intention]] and the [[moral quality of actions]]=== | ||
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+ | According to [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|theory}}, every [[time]] a [[person]] acts there is some [[quality]] of [[intention]] at the base of the [[mind]] and it is that [[quality]] rather than the outward [[appearance]] of the [[action]] that determines the effect. | ||
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+ | If one appears to be {{Wiki|benevolent}} but acts with [[greed]], [[anger]] or [[hatred]], then the [[fruit]] of those [[actions]] will bear testimony to the fundamental [[intention]] that lay behind them and will be a [[cause]] for {{Wiki|future}} [[unhappiness]]. | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha]] spoke of [[wholesome actions]] (P. [[kusala-kamma]], S. [[kuśala-karma]]) that result in [[happiness]], and | ||
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+ | [[unwholesome actions]] (P. [[akusala-kamma]], S. [[akuśala-karma]]) that result in [[unhappiness]]. | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha]] also elaborated that it was impossible for [[virtuous]] [[action]] to produce unfavorable results, and for [[nonvirtuous]] [[action]] to produce favorable results. | ||
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+ | However, although a good [[deed]] may produce [[merit]] which ripens into [[wealth]], if that [[deed]] was done too casually or the [[intention]] behind it was not quite [[pure]], that [[wealth]] so obtained sometimes cannot be enjoyed (AN.4.392-393). | ||
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+ | There are two classes of determined [[deeds]] which always produce good or bad results ([[fixed results]], P. [[niyato-rasi]]) respectively, and a class of [[deeds]] which may produce either good or bad results ([[non-fixed results]], P. [[aniyato-rasi]]) presumably depending on the context, although the [[Buddha]] does not elaborate (DN 3.217). | ||
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+ | [[Good karma]] is described as generating [[merit]] (P. [[puñña]], S. [[puñya]]), whereas [[bad karma]] is described as {{Wiki|demerit}} ([[apuñña]]/[[apuñya]] or [[pāpa]]). | ||
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+ | ==[[Karmic results]]== | ||
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+ | {{See}} [[Anatta]]. | ||
− | + | [[Anatta]] and [[moral responsibility]] | |
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− | + | The [[Buddha]] most often spoke of [[karma]] as the determining factor of the [[realm]] of one's subsequent [[rebirth]]--for this [[reason]] [[karma]] is often explained in tandem with [[rebirth]] and [[cosmology]]. | |
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− | + | The [[Cūlakammavibhanga Sutta]] ("The [[Shorter Exposition of Action]]," [[Majjhima Nikaya]] 3.203) is devoted to describing the various [[rebirths]] that various kinds of [[actions]] produce; negative [[actions]] such as {{Wiki|killing}} lead to [[rebirths]] in the [[lower realms]] such as [[hell]], and [[virtuous]] [[action]] such as gracious {{Wiki|behavior}} under duress leads to [[rebirth]] in the [[human]] or other higher [[realms]]. | |
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+ | Further, within [[human]] [[rebirths]] in particular, [[virtuous]] [[actions]] produce desirable qualities and good [[fortune]] such as [[physical]] [[beauty]], [[influence]], and so forth, whereas [[nonvirtuous]] [[actions]] lead to ugliness, {{Wiki|poverty}}, and other misfortunes. | ||
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+ | The [[Mahākammavibhanga Sutta]] ("[[The Greater Exposition of Action]]," MN.3.208) is a similar [[exposition]], with the additional stipulation that other [[rebirths]] may intervene between the [[time]] of the [[virtuous]] or [[nonvirtuous actions]] and the [[rebirth]] that they impel. | ||
[[File:For ning.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:For ning.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
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− | ===[[Karmic | + | The [[Buddha]] denied one could avoid experiencing the result of a [[karmic]] [[deed]] once it's been committed (AN 5.292). |
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+ | In the [[Anguttara Nikaya]], it is stated that [[karmic]] results are [[experienced]] either in this [[life]] (P. [[diṭṭadhammika]]) or in a {{Wiki|future}} [[lives]] (P. [[samparāyika]]). | ||
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+ | The former may involve a readily observable [[connection]] between [[action]] and [[karmic]] consequence, as when a thief is captured and tortured by the authorities, but the [[connection]] need not necessarily be that obvious and in fact usually is not observable. | ||
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+ | Among the results which [[manifest]] in [[future lives]], [[five heinous actions]]: | ||
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+ | <poem> | ||
+ | (P. [[ànantarika-kamma]]) provoke a [[rebirth]] in [[hell]] immediately subsequent to [[death]], | ||
+ | according to the [[Vinaya]]: | ||
+ | {{Wiki|matricide}}, | ||
+ | {{Wiki|patricide}}, | ||
+ | {{Wiki|killing}} an [[arhat]], | ||
+ | intentional shedding of a [[Buddha's]] {{Wiki|blood}}, and | ||
+ | causing a {{Wiki|schism}} in the [[sangha]] ([[Vinaya]] 5.128). | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
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+ | ===[[Karmic action]] & [[karmic results]] vs. general [[causes]] & general results=== | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha]] makes a basic {{Wiki|distinction}} between [[past karma]] (P. [[purānakamma]]) which has already been incurred, and [[karma]] [[being]] created in the {{Wiki|present}} (P. [[navakamma]]). | ||
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+ | Therefore in the {{Wiki|present}} one both creates [[new karma]] (P. [[navakamma]]) and encounters the result of [[past karma]] (P. [[kammavipāka]]). | ||
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+ | [[Karma]] in the early [[canon]] is also threefold: | ||
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+ | <poem> | ||
+ | [[Mental action]] (S. [[manaḥkarman]]), | ||
+ | [[bodily action]] (S. [[kāyakarman]]) and | ||
+ | [[vocal action]] (S. [[vākkarman]]). | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha's]] [[theory of karmic action]] and effect did not encompass all [[causes]] (S. [[hetu]]) and results (S. [[vipāka]]). | ||
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+ | Any given [[action]] may [[cause]] all sorts of results, but the [[karmic]] results are only that subset of results which impinges upon the doer of the [[action]] as a consequence of both the [[moral]] [[quality]] of the [[action]] and the [[intention]] behind the [[action]]. | ||
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+ | In the [[Abhidharma]] they are referred to by specific names for the [[sake]] of clarity, [[karmic causes]] [[being]] the "[[cause of results]]" (S. [[vipāka-hetu]]) and the [[karmic]] results [[being]] the "[[resultant fruit]]" (S. [[vipāka-phala]]). | ||
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+ | As one [[scholar]] outlines, "the {{Wiki|consequences}} envisioned by the law of [[karma]] encompass more (as well as less) than the observed natural or [[physical]] results which follow upon the performance of an [[action]]." | ||
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+ | The law of [[karma]] also applies "specifically to the [[moral]] [[sphere]] . . not concerned with the general [[relation]] between [[actions]] and their {{Wiki|consequences}}, but rather with the [[moral]] [[quality]] of [[actions]] and their {{Wiki|consequences}}, such as the [[pain]] and [[pleasure]] and good or bad [[experiences]] for the doer of the act." | ||
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+ | The [[theory of karma]] is not deterministic, in part because [[past karma]] is not viewed as the only [[causal]] {{Wiki|mechanism}} causing the {{Wiki|present}}. | ||
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+ | In the case of {{Wiki|diseases}}, for instance, he gives a list of other [[causes]] which may result in {{Wiki|disease}} in addition to [[karma]] (AN.5.110). | ||
− | The [[Buddha]] | + | The [[Buddha's]] {{Wiki|theory}} of [[moral]] {{Wiki|behavior}} was not strictly deterministic; it was [[conditional]]. |
− | + | His description of the workings of [[karma]] is not an all-inclusive one, unlike that of the {{Wiki|Jains}}. | |
− | + | The [[Buddha]] instead gave answers to various questions to specific [[people]] in specific contexts, and it is possible to find several [[causal]] explanations of {{Wiki|behavior}} in the early [[Buddhist texts]]. | |
− | In the [[Buddhist]] {{ | + | In the [[Buddhist theory of karma]], the {{LTSW|karmic effect of a deed}}[[karmic effect of a deed]] is not determined solely by the [[deed]] itself, but also by the [[nature]] of the [[person]] who commits the [[deed]] and by the circumstances in which it is committed. |
[[File:N of the mind.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:N of the mind.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
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− | : A certain [[person]] has not properly cultivated his [[body]], {{Wiki|behavior}}, [[thought]] and {{Wiki|intelligence}}, is inferior and insignificant and his [[life]] is short and [[miserable]]; of such a [[person]] ... even a trifling [[evil]] [[action]] done leads him to [[hell]]. In the case of a [[person]] who has proper culture of the [[body]], {{Wiki|behavior}}, [[thought]] and {{Wiki|intelligence}}, who is superior and not insignificant, and who is endowed with long [[life]], the consequences of a similar [[evil]] [[action]] are to be [[experienced]] in this very [[life]], and sometimes may not appear at all. | + | A {{Wiki|discourse}} in the [[Anguttara Nikaya]] (AN.1.249) indicates this [[conditionality]]: |
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+ | : A certain [[person]] has not properly cultivated his [[body]], {{Wiki|behavior}}, [[thought]] and {{Wiki|intelligence}}, is {{Wiki|inferior}} and insignificant and his [[life]] is short and [[miserable]]; of such a [[person]] ... even a trifling [[evil]] [[action]] done leads him to [[hell]]. In the case of a [[person]] who has proper {{Wiki|culture}} of the [[body]], {{Wiki|behavior}}, [[thought]] and {{Wiki|intelligence}}, who is {{Wiki|superior}} and not insignificant, and who is endowed with [[long]] [[life]], the {{Wiki|consequences}} of a similar [[evil]] [[action]] are to be [[experienced]] in this very [[life]], and sometimes may not appear at all. | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha]] declared that the precise working of how [[karma]] comes to [[fruition]] was one of the [[four incomprehensibles]] (P. [[acinteyya]] or [[acinnteyyāni]]) for anyone without the [[insight]] of a [[Buddha]] (AN.2.80). | ||
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+ | The [[Buddha]] sees the workings of [[karma]] with his "superhuman [[eye]]." | ||
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+ | Contemporary [[scholar]] [[Bruce Matthews]] asserts that the [[Cūlakammavibhanga Sutta]] (M.3.203) indicates that [[karma]] provokes "{{Wiki|tendencies}} or [[conditions]] rather than {{Wiki|consequences}} as such;" presumably he counts the [[rebirths resulting from karma]] described in the [[sutta]] as "{{Wiki|tendencies}} or [[conditions]]" rather than "{{Wiki|consequences}}," although he does not elaborate the point. | ||
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+ | In the [[Lakkhana Sutta]] ([[Digha Nikaya]] 30), the [[Buddha]] explains that his [[thirty-two special physical characteristics]] are the [[fruition]] of [[past karma]]. | ||
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===[[Karma]] & [[Nirvana]]=== | ===[[Karma]] & [[Nirvana]]=== | ||
− | There is a further distinction between [[worldly]], [[wholesome]] [[karma]] that leads to [[samsāric]] [[happiness]] (like [[birth]] in | + | |
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+ | There is a further {{Wiki|distinction}} between [[worldly]], [[wholesome]] [[karma]] that leads to [[samsāric]] [[happiness]] (like [[birth]] in [[higher realms]]), and [[path-consciousness]] which leads to [[enlightenment]] and [[nirvana]]. | ||
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+ | Therefore, there is [[samsāric]] [[good karma]], which leads to [[worldly]] [[happiness]], and there is liberating [[karma]]—which is supremely good, as it ends [[suffering]] forever. | ||
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+ | Once one has [[attained liberation]] one does not generate any further [[karma]], and the [[corresponding]] [[states of mind]] are called in [[Pali]] [[Kiriya]]. | ||
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+ | <poem> | ||
+ | Nonetheless, the [[Buddha]] advocated the [[practice of wholesome actions]]: " | ||
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+ | Refrain from [[unwholesome]] [[actions]]/ | ||
+ | Perform only [[wholesome]] ones/ | ||
+ | {{Wiki|Purify}} the [[mind]]/ | ||
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+ | This is the [[teaching]] of the [[Enlightened Ones]]" (Dhp v.183). | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
In [[Buddhism]], the term [[karma]] refers only to [[samsāric]] [[actions]], the workings of which are modeled by the [[twelve nidanas]] of [[dependent origination]], not [[actions]] committed by [[Arhats]] and [[Buddhas]]. | In [[Buddhism]], the term [[karma]] refers only to [[samsāric]] [[actions]], the workings of which are modeled by the [[twelve nidanas]] of [[dependent origination]], not [[actions]] committed by [[Arhats]] and [[Buddhas]]. | ||
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===Incorrect understandings of [[karma]] in the early [[sutras]]=== | ===Incorrect understandings of [[karma]] in the early [[sutras]]=== | ||
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− | [[Pubbekatahetuvada]]: The [[belief that all happiness and suffering, including all future happiness and suffering, arise from previous karma]], and [[human]] [[beings]] can exercise no [[volition to affect future results (Past-action [[determinism]]). | + | |
− | [[Issaranimmanahetuvada]]: The [[belief that all happiness]] and [[suffering are caused by the directives of a Supreme Being (Theistic [[determinism]]). | + | In [[Buddhism]], [[karma]] is not pre-[[determinism]], {{Wiki|fatalism}} or {{Wiki|accidentalism}}, as all these [[ideas]] lead to inaction and destroy [[motivation]] and [[human]] [[effort]]. |
− | [[Ahetu-appaccaya-vaada]]: The [[belief that all happiness and suffering are random, having no cause]] ({{Wiki|Indeterminism}} or {{Wiki|Accidentalism}}). | + | |
+ | These [[ideas]] undermine the important {{Wiki|concept}} that a [[human]] [[being]] can change for the better no {{Wiki|matter}} what his or her {{Wiki|past}} was, and they are designated as "[[wrong views]]" in [[Buddhism]]. The [[Buddha]] identified three: | ||
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+ | [[Pubbekatahetuvada]]: The [[belief that all happiness]] and [[suffering]], [[including]] all {{Wiki|future}} [[happiness]] and [[suffering]], arise from previous [[karma]], and [[human]] [[beings]] can exercise no [[volition to affect future results (Past-action [[determinism]]). | ||
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+ | [[Issaranimmanahetuvada]]: The [[belief that all happiness]] and [[suffering]] are [[caused]] by the directives of a [[Supreme Being]] ({{Wiki|Theistic}} [[determinism]]). | ||
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+ | [[Ahetu-appaccaya-vaada]]: The [[belief that all happiness]] and [[suffering]] are random, having no [[cause]] ({{Wiki|Indeterminism}} or {{Wiki|Accidentalism}}). | ||
[[File:OlChildren.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:OlChildren.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
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− | ==Systematization of [[karma]] {{Wiki| | + | [[Karma]] is continually ripening, but it is also continually [[being]] generated by {{Wiki|present}} [[actions]], therefore it is possible to exercise [[free will]] to [[shape]] [[future karma]]. [[P.A. Payutto]] writes, "the [[Buddha]] asserts [[effort]] and [[motivation]] as the crucial factors in deciding the [[ethical]] value of these various teachings on [[kamma]]." |
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+ | ==[[Systematization of karma theory in the early schools]]== | ||
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+ | As the earliest [[Buddhist philosophical schools]] developed with the rise of [[Abhidharma]] [[Buddhism]], various interpretations developed regarding more refined points of [[karma]]. | ||
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+ | All were confronted with a central issue, as one [[scholar]] summarizes: | ||
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+ | : When [the [[Buddhist]] [[understanding]] of [[karma]] is correlated to the {{LTSW|Buddhist doctrine of universal impermanence}}[[Buddhist doctrine of universal impermanence]] and [[No-Self]], a serious problem arises as to where this trace is stored and what the trace left is. | ||
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+ | The problem is aggravated when the trace remains latent over a [[long]] period, perhaps over a period of many [[existences]]. | ||
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+ | The crucial problem presented to all schools of [[Buddhist philosophy]] was where the trace is stored and how it can remain in the ever-changing {{Wiki|stream}} of [[phenomena]] which build up the {{Wiki|individual}} and what the [[nature]] of this trace is. | ||
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+ | As the [[Buddha]] had not [[offered]] [[elaboration]] in the early [[sutras]] that addresses this, the various schools proposed various similar yet {{Wiki|distinct}} solutions. | ||
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+ | As one [[scholar]] writes, "In certain cases it is apparent that [[concern]] with [[karma]] [[doctrine]] or vocabulary explanatory thereof played a distinctly [[causal]] role in {{Wiki|sectarian}} [[evolution]]. | ||
− | + | In other cases it is safer to say that the [[concern]] for an intelligible [[karma]] vocabulary was one among many complex factors that helped give decisive [[shape]] and [[substance]] to already {{Wiki|distinct}} or [[emerging]] {{Wiki|sectarian}} positions." | |
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One [[scholar]] summarizes the various orientations as follows: | One [[scholar]] summarizes the various orientations as follows: | ||
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− | In the [[Theravāda]] [[Abhidhamma]] and commentarial [[traditions]], [[karma]] is taken up at length. The [[Abhidhamma Sangaha]] of [[Anuruddhācariya]] offers a treatment of the topic, with an exhaustive treatment in [[book]] five (5.3.7). | + | : Different sects gave different names to their {{Wiki|theoretical}} candidates for the "carrier of the [[Karma]]" . . |
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+ | The following schools are associated with the following entities: [[Sammitīya]]—the [[avipranāśa]] or '[[indestructible]]', a [[dharma]] of the [[citta-viprayukta]] class. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [[Sarvāstivādin]]/[[Vaibhāṣika]] [[tradition]]—[[prāpti]] and [[aprāpti]] or adhesion and non-adhesion, and the [[avijñapti·rūpa]] or [[form]] that does not indicate. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <poem> | ||
+ | [[Sautrāntika]] tradition—the [[bīja]] or [[seed]], | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | the [[ekarasa-skandha]] or [[aggregate of unique essence]], | ||
+ | the [[mulāntika-skandha]] or [[proximate root aggregate]] and | ||
+ | the [[paramārtha-pudgala]]. | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [[Yogācāra]]/[[Vijñānavādin]] tradition—the [[ālaya-vijñāna]] or [[store house consciousness]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, the central question that these entities seem to have been [[constructed]] to answer is that of how the [[karmic force]] inheres in the [[psychophysical stream]] without thereby coloring or pervading each discrete [[moment]] of that {{Wiki|stream}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | What accounts for the "idling" or non-active aspect of [[defilement]] when a given [[thought]] is of a [[virtuous]] or {{Wiki|morally}} {{Wiki|indeterminate}} [[nature]]? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===The [[Theravādin commentarial tradition]]=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | In the [[Theravāda]] [[Abhidhamma]] and {{Wiki|commentarial}} [[traditions]], [[karma]] is taken up at length. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Abhidhamma Sangaha]] of [[Anuruddhācariya]] offers a treatment of the topic, with an exhaustive treatment in [[book]] five (5.3.7). | ||
[[File:Red Lotus.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Red Lotus.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | Of particular interest is the [[Kathāvatthu]], which "alone of the works of the [[Pali canon]] is directly concerned with conflicting [[views]] within the [[ | + | |
+ | |||
+ | Of particular [[interest]] is the [[Kathāvatthu]], which "alone of the works of the [[Pali canon]] is directly concerned with conflicting [[views]] within the [[Buddhistcommunity]]. . . | ||
+ | |||
+ | A number of the controverted points discussed in the [[Kathāvatthu]] relate either directly or indirectly to the notion of [[kamma]]." | ||
+ | |||
+ | This involved [[debate]] with the [[Pudgalavādin]] school, which postulated the provisional [[existence]] of the [[person]] (S. [[pudgala]], P. [[puggala]]) to account for the ripening of [[karmic]] effects over [[time]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Kathāvatthu]] also records [[debate]] by the [[Theravādins]] with the [[Andhakas]] (who may have been [[Mahāsāṃghikas]]) regarding whether or not [[old age]] and [[death]] are the result ([[vipāka]]) of [[karma]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Theravāda]] maintained that they are not—not, apparently because there is no [[causal]] [[relation]] between the two, but because they wished to reserve the term [[vipāka]] strictly for [[mental]] results-- " [[subjective]] [[phenomena]] [[arising]] through the effects of [[kamma]]." | ||
+ | |||
The [[Visuddhimagga]] states that "the [[kamma]] that is the [[condition]] for the [[fruit]] does not pass on there (to where the [[fruit]] is)." | The [[Visuddhimagga]] states that "the [[kamma]] that is the [[condition]] for the [[fruit]] does not pass on there (to where the [[fruit]] is)." | ||
− | In the {{Wiki|canonical}} [[Theravāda]] [[view]] of [[kamma]], "the [[belief]] that [[deeds]] done or ideas seized at the moment of [[death]] are particularly significant." | + | In the {{Wiki|canonical}} [[Theravāda]] [[view]] of [[kamma]], "the [[belief]] that [[deeds]] done or [[ideas]] seized at the [[moment]] of [[death]] are particularly significant." |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | As [[scholar]] [[Peter Harvey]] notes, "one curious feature of the [[Abhidamma]] [[view]] of the {{Wiki|perceptual}} process is that the discernments related to the five [[physical]] [[sense]] {{Wiki|organs}} are always said to be [[fruitions]] of [[karma]]." | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, in agreement with [[scholar]] L.S. Cousins he agrees that the most "plausible" explanation "is that [[karma]] affects [[discernment]] by determining which of the many [[phenomena]] in a [[person]]'[[s]] sensory range are actually noticed . . in the same room, for example, one [[person]] naturally tends to [[notice]] certain things which give rise to [[pleasure]], while another tends to [[notice]] things which give rise to some [[displeasure]]." | ||
− | |||
− | As [[karma]] is not the only [[causal]] agent, the [[Theravādin]] commentarial [[tradition]] classified [[causal]] mechanisms taught in the early texts in five categories, known as [[Niyama Dhammas]]: | + | As [[karma]] is not the only [[causal]] agent, the [[Theravādin]] {{Wiki|commentarial}} [[tradition]] classified [[causal]] mechanisms [[taught]] in the early texts in five categories, known as [[Niyama Dhammas]]: |
+ | |||
* [[Kamma Niyama]] — [[Consequences of one's actions]] | * [[Kamma Niyama]] — [[Consequences of one's actions]] | ||
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* [[Dhamma Niyama]] — [[Nature's tendency to produce a perfect type]] | * [[Dhamma Niyama]] — [[Nature's tendency to produce a perfect type]] | ||
− | |||
− | + | The [[Theravāda Abhidhamma]] also categories [[karma]] in other ways: | |
− | * {{Wiki|Reproductive}} [[karma]] ([[janaka-kamma]]) - [[karma]] which produces the [[mental]] and material [[aggregates]] at the moment of conception, conditioning the [[rebirth | + | |
− | * [[Supportive karma]] ([[upatthambhaka kamma]]) - [[karma]] ripening in one's [[lifetime]] which is of the same favorable or unfavorable quality as the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] which impelled the [[rebirth]] in question. That is to say, in the case of an [[animal]] with an [[unpleasant]] [[life]], the [[karma]] creating [[unpleasant]] [[conditions]] would be considered supportive of the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] which impelled what is considered an unfavorable [[rebirth]]. | + | |
− | * Obstructive or counteractive [[karma]] ([[upapiḍaka kamma]]) - the reverse of the former. In the example of the [[animal]], an [[animal]] with a [[pleasant]] [[life]] would be said to have obstructive rather than supportive [[karma]] in relation to his {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]]. | + | ===With regard to [[function]]=== |
− | * Destructive [[karma]] ([[upaghātaka kamma]]) - [[karma]] powerful enough to conteract the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] entirely, by ending the [[life]] in question. | + | |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * {{Wiki|Reproductive}} [[karma]] ([[janaka-kamma]]) - [[karma]] which produces the [[mental]] and material [[aggregates]] at the [[moment]] of {{Wiki|conception}}, {{Wiki|conditioning}} the [[rebirth-consciousness]] ([[patisandhi vinnana]]). | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Supportive karma]] ([[upatthambhaka kamma]]) - [[karma]] ripening in one's [[lifetime]] which is of the same favorable or unfavorable [[quality]] as the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] which impelled the [[rebirth]] in question. | ||
+ | |||
+ | That is to say, in the case of an [[animal]] with an [[unpleasant]] [[life]], the [[karma]] creating [[unpleasant]] [[conditions]] would be considered supportive of the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] which impelled what is considered an unfavorable [[rebirth]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * Obstructive or counteractive [[karma]] ([[upapiḍaka kamma]]) - the reverse of the former. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the example of the [[animal]], an [[animal]] with a [[pleasant]] [[life]] would be said to have obstructive rather than supportive [[karma]] in [[relation]] to his {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * {{Wiki|Destructive}} [[karma]] ([[upaghātaka kamma]]) - [[karma]] powerful enough to conteract the {{Wiki|reproductive}} [[karma]] entirely, by ending the [[life]] in question. | ||
[[File:Taylor-420x0.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Taylor-420x0.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | |||
− | * [[Weighty kamma]] ([[garuka kamma]]) — that which produces its results in this [[life]] or in the next for certain, namely, the five heinous crimes ([[ānantarika-kamma]]) | + | |
− | * [[Proximate kamma]] ([[āsanna kamma]]) — that which one does or remembers immediately before the dying moment | + | |
+ | |||
+ | ===With regard to [[potency]]=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Weighty kamma]] ([[garuka kamma]]) — that which produces its results in this [[life]] or in the next for certain, namely, the [[five heinous crimes]] ([[ānantarika-kamma]]) | ||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Proximate kamma]] ([[āsanna kamma]]) — that which one does or remembers immediately before the dying [[moment]] | ||
+ | |||
* [[Habitual kamma]] ([[āciṇṇa kamma]]) — that which one habitually performs and recollects and for which one has a great liking | * [[Habitual kamma]] ([[āciṇṇa kamma]]) — that which one habitually performs and recollects and for which one has a great liking | ||
+ | |||
* [[Reserve kamma]] ([[kaṭattā kamma]]) — refers to all [[actions]] that are done once and soon forgotten | * [[Reserve kamma]] ([[kaṭattā kamma]]) — refers to all [[actions]] that are done once and soon forgotten | ||
− | |||
− | * [[Immediately effective kamma]] - ([[diţţhadhammavedaniya kamma]]) - in the present [[lifetime]] | + | ===With regard to {{Wiki|temporal}} precedence=== |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Immediately effective kamma]] - ([[diţţhadhammavedaniya kamma]]) - in the {{Wiki|present}} [[lifetime]] | ||
* [[Subsequently effective kamma]] - ([[upapajjavedaniya kamma]]) - in the immediately following [[lifetime]] | * [[Subsequently effective kamma]] - ([[upapajjavedaniya kamma]]) - in the immediately following [[lifetime]] | ||
− | * | + | * [[Indefinitely effective kamma]] - ([[aṗarāpariyavedaniya kamma]]) - in lifetimes two or more in the {{Wiki|future}} |
− | * | + | * [[Defunct kamma]] ([[ahosi kamma]]) - ([[kamma]] whose effects have ripened already |
+ | |||
+ | |||
===With regard to the [[realm]]-setting of the effect=== | ===With regard to the [[realm]]-setting of the effect=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
* [[Unwholesome]] ([[akusala]]) [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[desire realm]] ([[kamavacara]]) | * [[Unwholesome]] ([[akusala]]) [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[desire realm]] ([[kamavacara]]) | ||
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* [[Wholesome]] [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[form realm]] ([[rupavacara]]) | * [[Wholesome]] [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[form realm]] ([[rupavacara]]) | ||
* [[Wholesome]] [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[formless realm]] ([[arupavacara]]) | * [[Wholesome]] [[kamma]] pertaining to the [[formless realm]] ([[arupavacara]]) | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
===The [[Milindapañha]] and [[Petavatthu]]=== | ===The [[Milindapañha]] and [[Petavatthu]]=== | ||
− | The [[Milindapañha]], a paracanonical [[Theravāda]] text, offers some interpretations of [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} at variance with the {{Wiki|orthodox}} position. In particular, [[Nāgasena]] allows for the possibility of the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] to [[humans]] and one of the four classes of [[petas]], perhaps in deference to folk [[belief]] (see below, The [[transfer]] or [[dedication]] of [[merit]]). [[Nāgasena]] makes it clear that demerit cannot be transferred. One [[scholar]] asserts that the sharing of [[merit]] "can be linked to the {{Wiki|Vedic}} [[śrāddha]], for it was [[Buddhist]] | + | |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Milindapañha]], a {{Wiki|paracanonical}} [[Theravāda]] text, offers some interpretations of [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} at variance with the {{Wiki|orthodox}} position. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In particular, [[Nāgasena]] allows for the possibility of the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] to [[humans]] and one of the four classes of [[petas]], perhaps in deference to {{Wiki|folk}} [[belief]] (see below, The [[transfer]] or [[dedication]] of [[merit]]). | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Nāgasena]] makes it clear that {{Wiki|demerit}} cannot be transferred. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One [[scholar]] asserts that the sharing of [[merit]] "can be linked to the {{Wiki|Vedic}} [[śrāddha]], for it was [[Buddhist practice]] not to upset [[existing]] [[traditions]] when well-established {{Wiki|custom}} was not antithetic to [[Buddhist]] [[teaching]]." | ||
+ | |||
[[File:Ing art 00.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Ing art 00.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | The [[Petavatthu]], which is fully {{Wiki|canonical}}, endorses the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] even more widely, including the possibility of sharing [[merit]] with all [[petas]]. | + | The [[Petavatthu]], which is fully {{Wiki|canonical}}, endorses the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] even more widely, [[including]] the possibility of sharing [[merit]] with all [[petas]]. |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===The [[Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin]] school and the [[Abhidharma-kośa]]=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
− | + | The [[Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda]], which had by far the most "comprehensive edifice of [[doctrinal]] systematics" of the [[nikaya]] schools, was widely influential in [[India]] and beyond--"the [[understanding]] of [[karma]] in the [[Sarvāstivāda]] in turn became normative not only for [[Buddhism]] in [[India]] but also for it in other countries." | |
+ | |||
+ | The [[Abhidharmahṛdaya]] by [[Dharmaśrī]] was the first systematic [[exposition]] of [[Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda]] [[doctrine]], and the third [[chapter]], the [[Karma-varga]], deals with the {{Wiki|concept}} of [[karma]] systematically. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Another important [[exposition]], the [[Mahāvibhāṣa]], gives [[three definitions of karma]]: | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
:1) [[action]], | :1) [[action]], | ||
:2) formal [[vinaya]] conduct, | :2) formal [[vinaya]] conduct, | ||
:3) [[human]] [[action]] as the agent of various effects. | :3) [[human]] [[action]] as the agent of various effects. | ||
− | |||
− | The 4th century [[philosopher]] [[Vasubandhu]] compiled the [[Abhidharma-kośa]], an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the [[Vaibhāṣika | + | |
+ | For the first usage, [[karma]] is supplanted in the text by the synonyms [[kriya]] or [[karitra]], both of which mean "[[activity]]." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third usage, [[karma]] as that which links certain [[actions]] with certain effects, is the [[primary]] [[concern]] of the [[exposition]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The 4th century [[philosopher]] [[Vasubandhu]] compiled the [[Abhidharma-kośa]], an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the [[Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin]] school on a wide range of issues raised by the early [[sutras]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Chapter]] four the {{Wiki|Kośa}} is devoted to a study of [[karma]], and chapters two and five contain formulation as to the {{Wiki|mechanism}} of [[fruition]] and retribution. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This became the main source of [[understanding]] of the {{Wiki|perspective}} of [[early Buddhism]] for later [[Mahāyāna]] [[philosophers]]. | ||
+ | |||
The notion of [[avijñapti]]—an unseen latent [[power]] that is nonetheless momentary—is significant to the [[Vaibhāṣika]]-[[Sarvāstivādin]] accounting of how [[karmic]] [[action]] precipitates [[karmic]] results. | The notion of [[avijñapti]]—an unseen latent [[power]] that is nonetheless momentary—is significant to the [[Vaibhāṣika]]-[[Sarvāstivādin]] accounting of how [[karmic]] [[action]] precipitates [[karmic]] results. | ||
− | |||
− | Six [[ | + | [[Vasubhandu]] elaborates on the [[causes]] (S. [[hetu]], Tib. [[rgyu]]) and [[conditions]] (S. [[pratyaya]], Tib. [[rkyen]], [[Pāli]]: [[paccaya]]) involved in the production of results (S. [[vipākaphalam]], Tib. [[rnam-smin-gyi 'bras-bu]]), [[karma]] [[being]] one source of [[causes]] and results, the "ripening [[cause]]" and "ripened result."} |
+ | |||
+ | Generally {{Wiki|speaking}}, the [[conditions]] can be [[thought]] of as auxiliary [[causes]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Vasubhandhu]] draws from the earlier [[Sarvāstivādin]] [[Abhidharma]] treatises to establish an elaborate [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|etiology}} with the following [[primary]] components: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Six Causes]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Acting]] [[causes]] (S. [[kāraṇahetu]], T. [[byed-rgyu]]) – all [[phenomena]], other than the result itself, which do not impede the production of the result. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | This includes | ||
+ | |||
− | |||
**(a) potent [[acting]] [[causes]], such as a seed for a sprout, | **(a) potent [[acting]] [[causes]], such as a seed for a sprout, | ||
**(b) impotent [[acting]] [[causes]], such as the [[space]] that allows a sprout to grow and the mother or the [[clothes]] of the farmer who planted the seed. | **(b) impotent [[acting]] [[causes]], such as the [[space]] that allows a sprout to grow and the mother or the [[clothes]] of the farmer who planted the seed. | ||
[[File:Ima gffg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Ima gffg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | * Simultaneously arising [[causes]] (S. [[sahabhuhetu]], T. lhan-cig 'byung-ba'i rgyu) – [[causes]] that arise simultaneously with their results. This would include, for instance, characteristics together with whatever it is that possesses the characteristics. | + | |
− | * Congruent [[causes]] ( Skt. [[saṃmprayuktahetu]], T. mtshungs-ldan-gyi rgyu) – a subcategory of simultaneously arising [[causes]], it includes [[causes]] share the same focal [[object]], [[mental]] aspect, [[cognitive]] | + | * Simultaneously [[arising]] [[causes]] (S. [[sahabhuhetu]], T. [[lhan-cig 'byung-ba'i rgyu]]) – [[causes]] that arise simultaneously with their results. This would include, for instance, [[characteristics]] together with whatever it is that possesses the [[characteristics]]. |
− | * Equal status [[cause]] (S. [[sabhagahetu]], T. skal-mnyam-gyi rgyu ) – [[causes]] for which the results are later moments in the same category of [[phenomena]]. For example, one moment of [[patience]] can be considered the [[cause]] of the next moment of [[patience]]. | + | |
− | * Driving [[causes]] (S. [[sarvatragohetu]], T. kun groi rgyu) – disturbing [[emotions]] and attitudes that generate other subsequent disturbing [[emotions]] and attitudes in the same plane of [[existence]], though the two need not be of the same [[ethical]] status. | + | * Congruent [[causes]] ( Skt. [[saṃmprayuktahetu]], T. [[mtshungs-ldan-gyi rgyu]]) – a subcategory of simultaneously [[arising]] [[causes]], it includes [[causes]] share the same focal [[object]], [[mental]] aspect, [[cognitive]] sensor, [[time]], and slant with their causes—primarily referring to the [[primary]] [[consciousness]] and its congruent [[mental factors]]. |
− | * | + | |
+ | * {{Wiki|Equal}} {{Wiki|status}} [[cause]] (S. [[sabhagahetu]], T. [[skal-mnyam-gyi rgyu]] ) – [[causes]] for which the results are later moments in the same category of [[phenomena]]. For example, one [[moment]] of [[patience]] can be considered the [[cause]] of the next [[moment]] of [[patience]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Driving [[causes]] (S. [[sarvatragohetu]], T. [[kun groi rgyu]]) – {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[emotions]] and attitudes that generate other subsequent {{Wiki|disturbing}} [[emotions]] and attitudes in the same plane of [[existence]], though the two need not be of the same [[ethical]] {{Wiki|status}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * [[Ripening cause]] (Skt. [[vipākahetu]], T. [[rnam-smin-gyi rgyu]]) - the [[karmic]] [[cause]] or efficacy. | ||
+ | |||
[[Four Conditions]]: | [[Four Conditions]]: | ||
− | * [[Causal | + | |
− | * Immediately preceding [[conditions]] (S. [[samanantarapratyaya]], T. dema thag rkyen) - a [[consciousness]] which precedes a [[sense]] or [[mental]] [[consciousness]] without any intervening [[consciousness]] and which produces the subsequent [[consciousness]] into an [[experience]]-ready entity | + | * [[Causal conditions]] (S. [[hetupratyaya]], T. [[rgyu-rkyen]]) - corresponds to five of the six [[causes]], excepting the [[kāraṇahetu]], which corresponds to the three [[conditions]] below |
− | * Focal [[condition]] (S. [[alambanapratyaya]], T. dmigs-rkyen) - or "[[object]] [[condition]]" - an [[object]] which directly generates the [[consciousness]] apprehending it into having its aspect, e.g. the [[object]] | + | |
− | * Dominating [[condition]] (S. [[adhipatipratyaya]], T. bdag-rkyen) - | + | * Immediately preceding [[conditions]] (S. [[samanantarapratyaya]], T. [[dema thag rkyen]]) - a [[consciousness]] which precedes a [[sense]] or [[mental]] [[consciousness]] without any intervening [[consciousness]] and which produces the subsequent [[consciousness]] into an [[experience]]-ready [[entity]] |
+ | * Focal [[condition]] (S. [[alambanapratyaya]], T. [[dmigs-rkyen]]) - or "[[object]] [[condition]]" - an [[object]] which directly generates the [[consciousness]] apprehending it into having its aspect, e.g. the [[object]] blue [[causes]] an [[eye]] [[consciousness]] to be generated into having the aspect of blue | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Dominating [[condition]] (S. [[adhipatipratyaya]], T. [[bdag-rkyen]]) - | ||
+ | |||
Five Types of Results: | Five Types of Results: | ||
− | * Ripened results (S. [[vipakaphalam]], T. rnam smin gyi 'bras-bu) - [[karmic]] results. | + | |
− | * Results that correspond to their [[cause]] (S. [[niṣyandaphalam]], T. rgyu-mthun gyi 'bras-bu) - [[causally]] concordant effects | + | * Ripened results (S. [[vipakaphalam]], T. [[rnam smin gyi 'bras-bu]]) - [[karmic]] results. |
− | * Dominating results (S. [[adhipatiphalam]], bdag poi bras bu) - the result of predominance. All [[conditioned]] [[dharmas]] are the adhipatiphala of other [[conditioned]] [[dharmas]]. | + | * Results that correspond to their [[cause]] (S. [[niṣyandaphalam]], T. [[rgyu-mthun gyi 'bras-bu]]) - [[causally]] concordant effects |
− | * Man-made results (S. [[puruṣakāraphalam]], T. skyes bu byed-pa'i 'bras-bu) - a result due to the [[activity]] of another [[dharma]] | + | * Dominating results (S. [[adhipatiphalam]], [[bdag poi bras bu]]) - the result of predominance. All [[conditioned]] [[dharmas]] are the [[adhipatiphala]] of other [[conditioned]] [[dharmas]]. |
− | * Results that are states of [[being]] parted (S. [[visamyogaphalam]], T. bral 'bras) - not actually a result at all, but refers to the [[cessation]] that arises from [[insight]]. | + | |
+ | * [[Man-made results]] (S. [[puruṣakāraphalam]], T. [[skyes bu byed-pa'i 'bras-bu]]) - a result due to the [[activity]] of another [[dharma]] | ||
+ | * Results that are states of [[being]] parted (S. [[visamyogaphalam]], T. [[bral 'bras]]) - not actually a result at all, but refers to the [[cessation]] that arises from [[insight]]. | ||
[[File:Ing.blue.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Ing.blue.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
+ | |||
===The [[Dārṣṭāntika]]-[[Sautrāntika]] [[view]]=== | ===The [[Dārṣṭāntika]]-[[Sautrāntika]] [[view]]=== | ||
+ | |||
The [[Dārṣṭāntika]]-[[Sautrāntika]] school pioneered the [[idea]] of [[karmic]] [[seeds]] (S. [[bija]]) and "the special modification of the [[psycho]]-[[physical]] series" (S. [[saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa]]) to explain the workings of [[karma]]. | The [[Dārṣṭāntika]]-[[Sautrāntika]] school pioneered the [[idea]] of [[karmic]] [[seeds]] (S. [[bija]]) and "the special modification of the [[psycho]]-[[physical]] series" (S. [[saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa]]) to explain the workings of [[karma]]. | ||
+ | |||
===The [[Pudgalavāda]] [[view]]=== | ===The [[Pudgalavāda]] [[view]]=== | ||
− | |||
− | : The [[Pudgalavādins]] argued that [[karma]] was a composite entity consisting of several temporal components and one atemporal one. Following the [[Buddhists sūtras]], they claimed that [[mental]] [[saṃskāras]] ([[mental formations]] corresponding to [[karma]]) were of the nature of [[volition]]. Vocal and [[bodily]] [[karma]], however, consisted only of the motion (gati) that could be observed. The motion itself is [[conditioned]] and therefore [[impermanent]]. The [[Pudgalavādins]] were, however, aware that the [[Buddha]] also taught the persistence of [[karma]]. In this the [[Pudgalavādins]] appealed to a text that was also considered authoritative by the [[Sarvāstivādins]]: “ | + | Although the [[views]] of the [[Pudgalavāda]] were considered somewhat {{Wiki|heretical}} by other [[Indian]] [[Buddhist]] schools, they were in all likelihood the most populous non-[[Mahayanist]] [[sect]] in [[India]], estimated at between a quarter of all non-[[Mahayana]] [[monks]] up to double the number of the next largest [[sect]]. According to [[scholar]] Joseph Walser, |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | : The [[Pudgalavādins]] argued that [[karma]] was a composite [[entity]] consisting of several {{Wiki|temporal}} components and one atemporal one. Following the [[Buddhists sūtras]], they claimed that [[mental]] [[saṃskāras]] ([[mental formations]] [[corresponding]] to [[karma]]) were of the [[nature]] of [[volition]]. {{Wiki|Vocal}} and [[bodily]] [[karma]], however, consisted only of the {{Wiki|motion}} ([[gati]]) that could be observed. The {{Wiki|motion}} itself is [[conditioned]] and therefore [[impermanent]]. The [[Pudgalavādins]] were, however, {{Wiki|aware}} that the [[Buddha]] also [[taught]] the persistence of [[karma]]. In this the [[Pudgalavādins]] appealed to a text that was also considered authoritative by the [[Sarvāstivādins]]: | ||
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+ | “[[Karma]] does not perish, even after hundreds of millions of [[cosmic]] eras. When the complex [of [[conditions]] and ([[favorable]]) times come together, they ripen for their author.” One particular subsect of [[Pudgalavādins]]—-the [[Saṃitīyas]]—-took the imperishability of [[karma]] to be one thing and the [[causes]] and [[conditions]] of [[karma]] to be another. They posited the [[existence]] of an [[entity]] called, appropriately enough, the “[[indestructible]]” ([[avipraṇāśa]]), separate from the [[karma]] itself. This “[[indestructible]]” acts like a blank sheet of paper on which the [[actions]] ([[karma]]) are written. | ||
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+ | : . . .The [[Pudgalavādin]] [[Abhidharma]] puts a definite spin on the [[sūtra]] [[tradition]] in their claims that [[karma]] persisted [[because of]] [[avipraṇāśa]] (in the case of the [[Saṃitīyas]]) and in claiming that [[pudgala]] was neither [[saṃsṛkta]] nor [[asaṃsṛkta]] (in the case of all [[Pudgalavādins]]). Yet the payoff for these maneuvers was sufficient to warrant such a move.. . in positing an [[avipraṇāśa]], the [[Saṃitīyas]] could appeal to the words of the [[Buddha]] saying that [[karma]] was [[indestructible]]. By claiming that the [[pudgala]] was [[existent]], they could meaningfully talk about the [[owner]] of [[karma]] while at the same [[time]] be [[able]] to explain how this [[owner]] could move from [[saṃsāra]] to [[nirvaṇā]]." | ||
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==[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in [[Mahāyāna]] schools== | ==[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in [[Mahāyāna]] schools== | ||
+ | |||
===[[Transfer]] or [[dedication]] of [[merit]]=== | ===[[Transfer]] or [[dedication]] of [[merit]]=== | ||
− | Initially in the western study of [[Buddhism]], some [[scholars]] believed that the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] was at first a uniquely [[Mahāyāna]] practice and that it was developed only at a late period, perceiving that it was somewhat discordant with early [[Buddhist]] understandings of [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}}. [[Scholar]] Heinz Bechert dates the [[Buddhist]] [[doctrine]] of [[transfer]] of [[merit]] ([[Sanskrit]]: [[puṇyapariṇāmanā]]) in its fully developed [[form]] to the period between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. However, [[Sree Padma]] and Anthony Barber note that [[merit]] [[transfer]] was well established and a very integral part of [[Buddhist]] practice in the Andhra region of southern [[India]]. In addition, inscriptions at numerous sites across {{Wiki|South Asia}} provide definitive evidence that the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] was widely practiced in the first few centuries CE. | + | Initially in the {{Wiki|western}} study of [[Buddhism]], some [[scholars]] believed that the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] was at first a uniquely [[Mahāyāna]] [[practice]] and that it was developed only at a late period, perceiving that it was somewhat discordant with early [[Buddhist]] understandings of [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}}. [[Scholar]] Heinz Bechert dates the [[Buddhist]] [[doctrine]] of [[transfer]] of [[merit]] ([[Sanskrit]]: [[puṇyapariṇāmanā]]) in its fully developed [[form]] to the period between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. However, [[Sree Padma]] and Anthony Barber note that [[merit]] [[transfer]] was well established and a very integral part of [[Buddhist]] [[practice]] in the [[Andhra]] region of southern [[India]]. In addition, {{Wiki|inscriptions}} at numerous sites across {{Wiki|South Asia}} provide definitive {{Wiki|evidence}} that the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] was widely practiced in the first few centuries CE. |
[[File:Mind-lasers 729.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Mind-lasers 729.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
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− | : An [[idea]] that has posed a number of thorny questions and {{Wiki|conceptual}} difficulties for [[Buddhist]] [[thought]] and the {{Wiki|history}} of the [[Mahāyāna]] is that often referred to as '[[transfer]] of [[merit]]' ([[puṇyapariṇāmanā]]). The process of [[pariṇāmanā]] (Tib. yons su bsno ba) in fact constitutes a most important feature in [[Mahāyāna]], where it denotes what might perhaps best be termed the [[dedication]] of good ([[puṇya]], [[śubha]], [[kuśala]]([[mula]]); Tib. bsod nams, dge ba | + | As [[scholar]] D. [[Seyfort Ruegg]] notes, |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | : An [[idea]] that has posed a number of thorny questions and {{Wiki|conceptual}} difficulties for [[Buddhist]] [[thought]] and the {{Wiki|history}} of the [[Mahāyāna]] is that often referred to as '[[transfer]] of [[merit]]' ([[puṇyapariṇāmanā]]). The process of [[pariṇāmanā]] (Tib. [[yons su bsno ba]]) in fact constitutes a most important feature in [[Mahāyāna]], where it denotes what might perhaps best be termed the [[dedication]] of good ([[puṇya]], [[śubha]], [[kuśala]]([[mula]]); Tib. [[bsod nams, dge ba'i rtsa ba]]) by an exercitant in [[view]] of the [[attainment]] by another [[karmically]] related [[person]] (such as a deceased [[parent]] or [[teacher]]) of a higher end. Yet such [[dedication]] appears, [[Wikipedia:Prima facie|prima facie]], to run counter to the [[karmic]] [[principle]] of the [[fruition]] or retribution of [[deeds]] ([[karmavipāka]]). | ||
− | : The related [[idea]] of acquisition/possession (of '[[merit]]', [[Pali]] [[patti]], Skt. [[prāpti]]), of assenting to and [[rejoicing]] in it ([[pattānumodanā]]), and even of its gift ([[pattidāna]]) are known to sections of the [[Theravāda]] [[tradition]]; and this {{Wiki|concept}} - absent in the oldest {{Wiki|canonical}} texts in [[Pali]], but found in later [[Pali]] [[tradition]] ([[Petavatthu]], [[Buddhāpadāna]]) - has been explained by some writers as [[being]] due to [[Mahāyānist]] [[influence]], and by reference to [[Nalinaksha]] Dutt's category of 'semi-[[Mahāyāna]].' | + | Generally accepted in [[Buddhism]], both [[Mahāyānist]] and non-[[Mahāyānist]], this [[principle]] stipulates that a [[karmic]] [[fruit]] or result ([[karmaphala]]) is 'reaped', i.e. [[experienced]], solely by the [[person]] - or more precisely by the [[conscious]] series ([[saṃtāna]]) - that has sown the seed of {{Wiki|future}} [[karmic]] [[fruition]] when deliberately ([[cetayitva]]) accomplishing an [[action]] ([[karman]]). |
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+ | : The related [[idea]] of acquisition/possession (of '[[merit]]', [[Pali]] [[patti]], Skt. [[prāpti]]), of assenting to and [[rejoicing]] in it ([[pattānumodanā]]), and even of its [[gift]] ([[pattidāna]]) are known to [[sections]] of the [[Theravāda]] [[tradition]]; and this {{Wiki|concept}} - absent in the oldest {{Wiki|canonical}} texts in [[Pali]], but found in later [[Pali]] [[tradition]] ([[Petavatthu]], [[Buddhāpadāna]]) - has been explained by some writers as [[being]] due to [[Mahāyānist]] [[influence]], and by reference to [[Nalinaksha]] Dutt's category of 'semi-[[Mahāyāna]].' | ||
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+ | [[Scholar]] Tommi Lehtonen notes that (fellow [[scholar]]) "Wolfgang Schumann says that that "the [[Mahāyāna]] [[teaching]] of the [[transfer]] of [[merit]] `breaks the strict [[causality]] of the Hinayānic law of [[karman]] (P. [[kamma]]) according to which everybody wanting better [[rebirth]] can reach it solely by his [[own]] efforts’ . Yet, Schumann claims that on this point [[Mahāyāna]] and [[Hinayāna]] differ only in the texts, for the [[religious]] [[practice]] in [[South]] {{Wiki|East Asia}} acknowledges the [[transference]] of [[karmic]] [[merit]] (P. [[pattidāna]]) in [[Theravāda]] as well." | ||
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===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in [[Indian]] [[Yogācāra]] [[philosophy]]=== | ===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in [[Indian]] [[Yogācāra]] [[philosophy]]=== | ||
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− | The Treatise on [[Action]] ([[Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa]]), also by [[Vasubandhu]], treats the [[subject]] of [[karma]] in detail from the [[Yogācāra]] perspective. According to [[scholar]] [[Dan Lusthaus]], "[[Vasubandhu]]'s [[Viṃśatikā]] (Twenty Verses) repeatedly emphasizes in a variety of ways that [[karma]] is intersubjective and that the course of each and every stream of [[consciousness]] ([[vijñāna-santāna]], i.e., the changing {{Wiki|individual}}) is profoundly influenced by its relations with other [[consciousness]] streams." | + | In the [[Yogācāra]] [[philosophical]] [[tradition]], one of the two [[principal]] [[Mahāyāna]] schools, the [[principle]] of [[karma]] was extended considerably. In the [[Yogācāra]] formulation, all [[experience]] without exception is said to result from the ripening of [[karma]]. [[Karmic]] [[seeds]] (S. [[bija]]) are said to be stored in the "[[storehouse consciousness]]" (S. [[ālayavijñāna]]) until such [[time]] as they ripen into [[experience]]. The term [[vāsāna]] ("perfuming") is also used, and [[Yogācārins]] [[debated]] whether [[vāsāna]] and [[bija]] were [[essentially]] the same, the [[seeds]] were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the [[seeds]]. The seemingly external [[world]] is merely a "by-product" ([[adhipati-phala]]) of [[karma]]. The {{Wiki|conditioning}} of the [[mind]] resulting from [[karma]] is called [[saṃskāra]]. |
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+ | The Treatise on [[Action]] ([[Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa]]), also by [[Vasubandhu]], treats the [[subject]] of [[karma]] in detail from the [[Yogācāra]] {{Wiki|perspective}}. According to [[scholar]] [[Dan Lusthaus]], "[[Vasubandhu]]'[[s]] [[Viṃśatikā]] (Twenty Verses) repeatedly emphasizes in a variety of ways that [[karma]] is intersubjective and that the course of each and every {{Wiki|stream}} of [[consciousness]] ([[vijñāna-santāna]], i.e., the changing {{Wiki|individual}}) is profoundly influenced by its relations with other [[consciousness]] streams." | ||
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[[File:Oto_2012.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Oto_2012.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
As one [[scholar]] argues, whereas in earlier systems it "was not clear how a series of completely [[mental]] events (the [[deed]] and its traces) could give rise to non-[[mental]], material effects," with the (purported) {{Wiki|idealism}} of the [[Yogācāra]] system this is not an issue. | As one [[scholar]] argues, whereas in earlier systems it "was not clear how a series of completely [[mental]] events (the [[deed]] and its traces) could give rise to non-[[mental]], material effects," with the (purported) {{Wiki|idealism}} of the [[Yogācāra]] system this is not an issue. | ||
The [[Mahayana]] [[Diamond Sutra]] ([[Vajracchedika-sutra]]) also is perhaps suggestive of the [[Mahāyāna]] tendency to attribute all [[happiness]] and [[suffering]] to [[karmic]] ripening: | The [[Mahayana]] [[Diamond Sutra]] ([[Vajracchedika-sutra]]) also is perhaps suggestive of the [[Mahāyāna]] tendency to attribute all [[happiness]] and [[suffering]] to [[karmic]] ripening: | ||
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:The [[happiness]] and [[suffering]] of all [[beings]], | :The [[happiness]] and [[suffering]] of all [[beings]], | ||
− | :are due to [[karma]], the Sage taught; | + | :are due to [[karma]], the [[Sage]] [[taught]]; |
:[[Karma]] arises from diverse acts, | :[[Karma]] arises from diverse acts, | ||
:which in turn create the diverse classes of [[beings]] | :which in turn create the diverse classes of [[beings]] | ||
− | In [[Mahāyāna]] [[traditions]], [[karma]] is not the sole basis of [[rebirth]]. The [[rebirths]] of [[bodhisattvas]] after the seventh stage (S. [[bhūmi]]) are said to be [[consciously]] directed for the benefit of others still trapped in [[saṃsāra]]. [[Thus]], theirs are not uncontrolled [[rebirths]]. | + | |
+ | In [[Mahāyāna]] [[traditions]], [[karma]] is not the sole basis of [[rebirth]]. The [[rebirths]] of [[bodhisattvas]] after the seventh stage (S. [[bhūmi]]) are said to be [[consciously]] directed for the [[benefit]] of others still trapped in [[saṃsāra]]. [[Thus]], theirs are not uncontrolled [[rebirths]]. | ||
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===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in Indo-[[Tibetan]] [[Mādhyamaka]] [[philosophy]]=== | ===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in Indo-[[Tibetan]] [[Mādhyamaka]] [[philosophy]]=== | ||
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[[Nāgārjuna]] articulated the difficulty in forming a [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in his most prominent work, the [[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]] ([[Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way]]): If (the act) lasted till the [[time]] of ripening, (the act) would be [[eternal]]. If (the act) were terminated, how could the terminated produce a [[fruit]]? The [[Mūlamadhyamakavṛtty-Akutobhayā]], also generally attributed to [[Nāgārjuna]], concludes that it is impossible both for the act to persist somehow and also for it to perish immediately and still have efficacy at a later [[time]]. | [[Nāgārjuna]] articulated the difficulty in forming a [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in his most prominent work, the [[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]] ([[Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way]]): If (the act) lasted till the [[time]] of ripening, (the act) would be [[eternal]]. If (the act) were terminated, how could the terminated produce a [[fruit]]? The [[Mūlamadhyamakavṛtty-Akutobhayā]], also generally attributed to [[Nāgārjuna]], concludes that it is impossible both for the act to persist somehow and also for it to perish immediately and still have efficacy at a later [[time]]. | ||
− | [[Mādhyamaka]] schools deriving from [[Nāgārjuna]] subsequently took one of two approaches to the problem. The [[Svātantrika]]-[[Mādhyamaka]] generally borrowed the [[philosophy]] of [[karma]] from the [[Yogācāra]]. The [[Prāsaṅgika]]-[[Mādhyamaka]] refuted every {{Wiki|concept}} of a support for ongoing [[karmic]] efficacy, while nevertheless postulating that a potential (T. nus pa) is formed which substantiates whenever the situation is ripe. [[Candrakīrti]], the definitive exponent of [[Prāsaṅgika]], argued that because this potential is not a thing, that is, not an "inherently real [[phenomenon]]," it does not need to be supported in any way. One [[scholar]] argues that "in [[India]], the [[Prāsaṅgikas]]' various viewpoints of [[karma]] were never organized into a coherent and convincing system." | + | |
+ | [[Mādhyamaka]] schools deriving from [[Nāgārjuna]] subsequently took one of two approaches to the problem. The [[Svātantrika]]-[[Mādhyamaka]] generally borrowed the [[philosophy]] of [[karma]] from the [[Yogācāra]]. The [[Prāsaṅgika]]-[[Mādhyamaka]] refuted every {{Wiki|concept}} of a support for ongoing [[karmic]] efficacy, while nevertheless postulating that a potential (T. [[nus pa]]) is formed which substantiates whenever the situation is ripe. [[Candrakīrti]], the definitive exponent of [[Prāsaṅgika]], argued that because this potential is not a thing, that is, not an "inherently real [[phenomenon]]," it does not need to be supported in any way. One [[scholar]] argues that "in [[India]], the [[Prāsaṅgikas]]' various viewpoints of [[karma]] were never organized into a coherent and convincing system." | ||
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====In [[Tibet]]==== | ====In [[Tibet]]==== | ||
− | [[Tsongkhapa]], the founder of the [[Gelug]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], argued that the [[Prāsaṅgika]] position allowed for the postulation of something called an "act's [[cessation]]" (las zhig pal) which persists and is in fact a [[substance]] (rdzas or dngos po, S. [[vastu]]), and which explains the connection between [[cause]] and result. [[Gorampa]], an important [[philosopher]] of the [[Sakya]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], accused [[Tsongkhapa]] of a [[doctrinal]] innovation not legitimately grounded in [[Candrakīrti]]'s work, and one which amounted to little more than a (non-[[Buddhist]]) [[Vaiśeṣika]] {{Wiki|concept}}. [[Gelugpa]] [[scholars]] [[offered]] defenses of the [[idea]]. | + | |
+ | [[Tsongkhapa]], the founder of the [[Gelug]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], argued that the [[Prāsaṅgika]] position allowed for the [[postulation]] of something called an "act's [[cessation]]" (las [[zhig]] pal) which persists and is in fact a [[substance]] ([[rdzas]] or [[dngos po]], S. [[vastu]]), and which explains the [[connection]] between [[cause]] and result. [[Gorampa]], an important [[philosopher]] of the [[Sakya]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], accused [[Tsongkhapa]] of a [[doctrinal]] innovation not legitimately grounded in [[Candrakīrti]]'[[s]] work, and one which amounted to little more than a (non-[[Buddhist]]) [[Vaiśeṣika]] {{Wiki|concept}}. [[Gelugpa]] [[scholars]] [[offered]] defenses of the [[idea]]. | ||
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===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in {{Wiki|East Asian}} [[Buddhism]]=== | ===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} in {{Wiki|East Asian}} [[Buddhism]]=== | ||
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====[[Zen]] and [[karma]]==== | ====[[Zen]] and [[karma]]==== | ||
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[[File:Lily-mind-trainin.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Lily-mind-trainin.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | [[Dōgen]] Kigen argued in his Shobogenzo that [[karmic]] latencies are emphatically not [[empty]], going so far as to claim that [[belief]] in the [[emptiness]] of [[karma]] should be characterized as "non-[[Buddhist]]," although he also states that the “law of [[karman]] has no concrete [[existence]].” | + | [[Dōgen]] Kigen argued in his [[Shobogenzo]] that [[karmic]] latencies are emphatically not [[empty]], going so far as to claim that [[belief]] in the [[emptiness]] of [[karma]] should be characterized as "non-[[Buddhist]]," although he also states that the “law of [[karman]] has no concrete [[existence]].” |
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====[[Tendai]]==== | ====[[Tendai]]==== | ||
− | The {{Wiki|Japanese}} [[Tendai]]/[[Pure Land]] [[teacher]] [[Genshin]] taught that [[Amida]] [[Buddha]] has the [[power]] to | + | |
+ | The {{Wiki|Japanese}} [[Tendai]]/[[Pure Land]] [[teacher]] [[Genshin]] [[taught]] that [[Amida]] [[Buddha]] has the [[power]] to destroy the [[karma]] that would otherwise bind one in [[saṃsāra]]. | ||
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==[[Karma]] in [[Vajrayana]]== | ==[[Karma]] in [[Vajrayana]]== | ||
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− | ===The [[Karma]] [[Buddha]] family in Indo-[[Tibetan Buddhism]]=== | + | In the [[Vajrayana]] [[tradition]], it is believed that the effects of negative {{Wiki|past}} [[karma]] can be "[[purified]]" through such practices as [[meditation]] on [[Vajrasattva]]. The performer of the [[action]], after having [[purified]] the [[karma]], does not [[experience]] the negative results he or she otherwise would have. |
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+ | ===The [[Karma]] [[Buddha]] [[family]] in Indo-[[Tibetan Buddhism]]=== | ||
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+ | The [[dhyani Buddhas]], also called [[Five Wisdom Buddhas]], are built on five [[Buddha]] families (Kullas, Buddhakula). One of them is named the [[Karma]] [[family]] presided by [[Buddha]] [[Amoghasiddhi]]. The [[symbol]]/{{Wiki|emblem}} of that [[family]] is the double [[vajra]]. | ||
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+ | =={{Wiki|Modern}} interpretations and controversies== | ||
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===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} & {{Wiki|social}} justice=== | ===[[Karma]] {{Wiki|theory}} & {{Wiki|social}} justice=== | ||
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− | The "[[primary]] critique" of the [[Buddhist]] [[doctrine]] of [[karma]] is that some [[feel]] "[[karma]] may be socially and politically disempowering in its cultural effect, that without intending to do this, [[karma]] may in fact support {{Wiki|social}} passivity or acquiescence in the face of oppression of various kinds." Dale S. Wright, a [[scholar]] specializing in [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]], has proposed that the [[doctrine]] be reformulated for modern [[people]], "separated from [[elements]] of [[supernatural]] [[thinking]]," so that [[karma]] is asserted to [[condition]] only personal qualities and dispositions rather than [[rebirth]] and external occurrences. | + | Since the exposure of the [[West]] to [[Buddhism]], some {{Wiki|western}} commentators and [[Buddhists]] have taken exception to aspects of [[karma]] {{Wiki|theory}}, and have proposed revisions of various kinds. These proposals fall under the rubric of [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|modernism}}. As one [[scholar]] writes, "Some {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhist]] thinkers appear largely to have abandoned [[traditional]] [[views]] of [[karma]] and [[rebirth]] in [[light]] of the contemporary [[transformation]] of the {{Wiki|conception}} of [[interdependence]]," preferring instead to align [[karma]] purely with contemporary [[ideas]] of [[causality]]. One [[scholar]] writes, "it is perhaps possible to say that both [[Buddhism]] and [[Buddhist]] [[ethics]] may be better off without the [[karmic]]-[[rebirth]] factor to deal with." Often these critical writers have backgrounds in [[Zen]] and/or [[Engaged Buddhism]]. |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The "[[primary]] critique" of the [[Buddhist]] [[doctrine]] of [[karma]] is that some [[feel]] "[[karma]] may be socially and {{Wiki|politically}} disempowering in its {{Wiki|cultural}} effect, that without intending to do this, [[karma]] may in fact support {{Wiki|social}} passivity or acquiescence in the face of oppression of various kinds." Dale S. Wright, a [[scholar]] specializing in [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]], has proposed that the [[doctrine]] be reformulated for {{Wiki|modern}} [[people]], "separated from [[elements]] of [[supernatural]] [[thinking]]," so that [[karma]] is asserted to [[condition]] only personal qualities and dispositions rather than [[rebirth]] and external occurrences. | ||
[[File:Imagdsfg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Imagdsfg.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | One [[scholar]] and [[Zen]] practitioner, David Loy, echoes these remarks. He writes, "what are we going to do about [[karma]]? There's no point in pretending that [[karma]] hasn't become a problem for contemporary [[Buddhism]] . .[[Buddhism]] can fit quite nicely into modern ways of understanding. But not [[traditional]] [[views]] of [[karma]]." Loy argues that the [[traditional]] [[view]] of [[karma]] is "[[fundamentalism]]" which [[Buddhism]] must "outgrow." | + | |
+ | One [[scholar]] and [[Zen]] [[practitioner]], [[David Loy]], echoes these remarks. He writes, "what are we going to do about [[karma]]? There's no point in pretending that [[karma]] hasn't become a problem for contemporary [[Buddhism]] . .[[Buddhism]] can fit quite nicely into {{Wiki|modern}} ways of [[understanding]]. But not [[traditional]] [[views]] of [[karma]]." Loy argues that the [[traditional]] [[view]] of [[karma]] is "[[fundamentalism]]" which [[Buddhism]] must "outgrow." | ||
Loy argues that the [[idea]] of accumulating [[merit]] too easily becomes "[[spirtitual materialism]]," a [[view]] echoed by other [[Buddhist]] modernists, and further that | Loy argues that the [[idea]] of accumulating [[merit]] too easily becomes "[[spirtitual materialism]]," a [[view]] echoed by other [[Buddhist]] modernists, and further that | ||
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− | While some strands of later [[Buddhist]] [[thought]] did attribute all [[experience]] to past [[karma]], the early texts explicitly did not, and in particular state that [[caste]] is not determined by [[karma]]. | + | : [[Karma]] has been used to rationalize racism, [[caste]], economic oppression, [[birth]] handicaps and everything else. Taken [[literally]], [[karma]] justifies the authority of {{Wiki|political}} elites, who therefore must deserve their [[wealth]] and [[power]], and the subordination of those who have neither. It provides the {{Wiki|perfect}} theodicy: if there is an infallible [[cause-and-effect]] relationship between one's [[actions]] and one's [[fate]], there is no need to work toward {{Wiki|social}} justice, because it's already built into the [[moral]] fabric of the [[universe]]. In fact, if there is no undeserved [[suffering]], there is really no [[evil]] that we need to struggle against. It will all [[balance]] out in the end. |
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+ | |||
+ | While some [[strands]] of later [[Buddhist]] [[thought]] did attribute all [[experience]] to {{Wiki|past}} [[karma]], the early texts explicitly did not, and in particular [[state]] that [[caste]] is not determined by [[karma]]. | ||
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+ | Loy goes on to argue that the [[view]] that [[suffering]] such as that undergone by Holocaust {{Wiki|victims}} could be attributed in part to the [[karmic]] ripenings of those {{Wiki|victims}} is "[[fundamentalism]], which blames the {{Wiki|victims}} and rationalizes their horrific [[fate]]," and that this is "something no longer to be tolerated quietly. It is [[time]] for {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhists]] and {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhism]] to outgrow it" by revising or discarding the teachings on [[karma]]. Other [[scholars]] have argued, however, that the teachings on [[karma]] do not encourage [[judgment]] and blame, given that the {{Wiki|victims}} were not the same [[people]] who committed the acts, but rather were just part of the same [[mindstream]]-{{Wiki|continuum}} with the {{Wiki|past}} actors, and that the teachings on [[karma]] instead provide "a thoroughly satisfying explanation for [[suffering]] and loss" in which believers take {{Wiki|comfort}}. | ||
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− | The question of the Holocaust also occurs in the Jew in the [[Lotus]]: A Poet's Re-Discovery of Jewish Identity in [[Buddhist]] [[India]], which describes a group of Jewish [[religious]] leaders who meet with the [[Dalai Lama]]. They ask one of the [[Dalai Lama]]'s party, a [[Buddhist]] [[scholar]] named [[Geshe]] [[Sonam Rinchen]], if the Holocaust would be attributed to past [[karma]] in the [[traditional]] [[Buddhist]] [[view]], and he affirms that it would. The author is "shocked and a little outraged," because, like Loy, he felt it "sounded like blaming the victim." | + | The question of the Holocaust also occurs in the Jew in the [[Lotus]]: A Poet's Re-Discovery of {{Wiki|Jewish}} {{Wiki|Identity}} in [[Buddhist]] [[India]], which describes a group of {{Wiki|Jewish}} [[religious]] leaders who meet with the [[Dalai Lama]]. They ask one of the [[Dalai Lama]]'[[s]] party, a [[Buddhist]] [[scholar]] named [[Geshe]] [[Sonam Rinchen]], if the Holocaust would be attributed to {{Wiki|past}} [[karma]] in the [[traditional]] [[Buddhist]] [[view]], and he affirms that it would. The author is "shocked and a little outraged," because, like Loy, he felt it "sounded like blaming the victim." |
[[File:00248923.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:00248923.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | Many modern [[Buddhists]] such as {{Wiki|Thich Nhat Hanh}} prefer to suggest the "dispersion of [[karmic]] responsibility into the {{Wiki|social}} system," such that "[[moral]] responsibility is decentered from the solitary {{Wiki|individual}} and spread throughout the entire {{Wiki|social}} system," reflecting the left-wing politics of Engaged [[Buddhism]]. | + | |
+ | Many {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhists]] such as {{Wiki|Thich Nhat Hanh}} prefer to suggest the "dispersion of [[karmic]] {{Wiki|responsibility}} into the {{Wiki|social}} system," such that "[[moral]] {{Wiki|responsibility}} is decentered from the {{Wiki|solitary}} {{Wiki|individual}} and spread throughout the entire {{Wiki|social}} system," {{Wiki|reflecting}} the left-wing {{Wiki|politics}} of Engaged [[Buddhism]]. | ||
+ | |||
===Is there collective or national [[karma]]?=== | ===Is there collective or national [[karma]]?=== | ||
− | |||
− | As one [[scholar]] writes, "a systematic {{Wiki|concept}} of group [[karma]] was in no [[sense]] operative in early [[Theravada]]" or other schools based on the early [[sutras]]. "Instead," he writes, "the repeated emphasis in the {{Wiki|canonical}} discussions of [[karma]] is on the {{Wiki|individual}} as heir to his own [[deeds]]. It is only in this century, then, that one finds a [[conscious]] [[effort]] to split with this [[tradition]]." | + | Other {{Wiki|modern}} [[Buddhists]] have sought to formulate theories of group, collective and national [[karma]] which are not found in [[traditional]] [[Buddhist]] [[thinking]]. The earliest recorded instance of this occurred in 1925, when a member of the [[Maha]] [[Bodhi]] named Sheo Narain published an article entitled "[[Karmic]] [[Law]]" in which he invited [[Buddhist]] [[scholars]] to explore the question of whether an {{Wiki|individual}} is "responsible not only for his {{Wiki|individual}} [[actions]] in his {{Wiki|past}} [[life]] but also for {{Wiki|past}} communal [[deeds]]." |
+ | |||
+ | As one [[scholar]] writes, "a systematic {{Wiki|concept}} of group [[karma]] was in no [[sense]] operative in early [[Theravada]]" or other schools based on the early [[sutras]]. "Instead," he writes, "the repeated {{Wiki|emphasis}} in the {{Wiki|canonical}} discussions of [[karma]] is on the {{Wiki|individual}} as heir to his [[own]] [[deeds]]. It is only in this century, then, that one finds a [[conscious]] [[effort]] to split with this [[tradition]]." | ||
[[Buddhism]] does not deny that the [[actions]] taken by one generation of the citizens of a given country will have effects on later generations, for example. However, as noted above, all effects of [[actions]] are not [[karmic]] effects. [[Karmic]] effects impinge only on the [[mindstreams]] of those [[sentient beings]] who perform the [[actions]]. As [[Nyanatiloka]] [[Mahathera]] writes, {{Wiki|individuals}} | [[Buddhism]] does not deny that the [[actions]] taken by one generation of the citizens of a given country will have effects on later generations, for example. However, as noted above, all effects of [[actions]] are not [[karmic]] effects. [[Karmic]] effects impinge only on the [[mindstreams]] of those [[sentient beings]] who perform the [[actions]]. As [[Nyanatiloka]] [[Mahathera]] writes, {{Wiki|individuals}} | ||
− | |||
− | [[Thus]], in the [[traditional]] [[view]] the effects of the [[actions]] of other beings—such as the leader of one's country, or prior generations of its citizens—might well serve as [[causes]] of [[suffering]] for an {{Wiki|individual}} on one level, but not they would not be the [[karmic]] [[causes]] of the [[suffering]] of that individual—those [[causes]] would [[function]] in congruence with the [[karmic]] [[causes]]. There is, therefore, no "national [[karma]]" in [[traditional]] [[Buddhism]]. One "[[scholar]] of engaged [[Buddhism]]" wrote an article asserting that the "collective [[karma]]" of the [[United States]] deriving from the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse would potentially "play out for generations," a [[view]] that is not supported by [[traditional]] [[Buddhist]] [[views]] of [[karma]]. The effects may well be felt by Americans for generations, but they would not constitute "collective [[karma]]." | + | : should be responsible for the [[deeds]] formerly done by this so-called 'same' [[people]]. In [[reality]], however, this {{Wiki|present}} [[people]] may not consist at all of the [[karmic]] heirs of the same {{Wiki|individuals}} who did these [[bad deeds]]. According to [[Buddhism]] it is of course quite true that anybody who [[suffers]] [[bodily]], [[suffers]] for his {{Wiki|past}} or {{Wiki|present}} [[bad deeds]]. [[Thus]] also each of those {{Wiki|individuals}} born within that [[suffering]] {{Wiki|nation}}, must, if actually [[suffering]] [[bodily]], have done [[evil]] somewhere, here or in one of the {{Wiki|innumerable}} [[spheres]] of [[existence]]; but he may not have had anything to do with the [[bad deeds]] of the so-called {{Wiki|nation}}. We might say that through his [[evil]] [[Karma]] he was attracted to the [[miserable]] [[condition]] befitting to him. In short, the term [[Karma]] applies, in each instance, only to [[wholesome]] and [[unwholesome]] [[volitional]] [[activity]] of the single {{Wiki|individual}}. |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [[Thus]], in the [[traditional]] [[view]] the effects of the [[actions]] of other beings—such as the leader of one's country, or prior generations of its citizens—might well serve as [[causes]] of [[suffering]] for an {{Wiki|individual}} on one level, but not they would not be the [[karmic]] [[causes]] of the [[suffering]] of that individual—those [[causes]] would [[function]] in congruence with the [[karmic]] [[causes]]. There is, therefore, no "national [[karma]]" in [[traditional]] [[Buddhism]]. One "[[scholar]] of engaged [[Buddhism]]" wrote an article asserting that the "collective [[karma]]" of the [[United States]] deriving from the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse would potentially "play out for generations," a [[view]] that is not supported by [[traditional]] [[Buddhist]] [[views]] of [[karma]]. The effects may well be felt by {{Wiki|Americans}} for generations, but they would not constitute "collective [[karma]]." | ||
+ | |||
[[File:Ibb-funeral.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | [[File:Ibb-funeral.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
− | "Collective [[karma]]" could be spoken of only in certain limited [[senses]] in the {{Wiki|canonical}} [[tradition]]. In [[Vasubandu]]'s Karmasiddhiprakarana, among other places, it is asserted that a group of {{Wiki|individuals}} who collaborate and share the same [[intention]] for a planned [[action]] will all incur [[karmic]] [[merit]] or demerit based on that [[action]], regardless of which {{Wiki|individual}} actually carries out the [[action]]. The [[fruition]] of their [[merit]] or demerit, however, will not necessarily be [[experienced]] by each of the {{Wiki|individuals}} together, and/or at the same [[time]]. Likewise, "family [[karma]]" is possible only when it refers to [[karmic]] dispositions which are similar in each {{Wiki|individual}} family member. One [[scholar]] points out, "statements concerning group [[karma]] . . .are [[subject]] to {{Wiki|conceptual}} confusion. It is important to distinguish group [[karma]] from what might be termed conjunctive [[karma]], that is, the [[karmic]] residues which we [[experience]] as a result of the [[actions]] of everyone or everything operating casually in the situation, but which are justified by our own accumulated [[karma]]. . . the [[actions]] of many persons . . .mediate our [[karma]] to us. But this is not group [[karma]], for the effect which we [[experience]] is justified by our own particular acts or pool of [[karma]], and not by the [[karmic]] acts or pool of the group, even though it is mediated by the [[actions]] of others." | + | "Collective [[karma]]" could be spoken of only in certain limited [[senses]] in the {{Wiki|canonical}} [[tradition]]. In [[Vasubandu]]'[[s]] [[Karmasiddhiprakarana]], among other places, it is asserted that a group of {{Wiki|individuals}} who collaborate and share the same [[intention]] for a planned [[action]] will all incur [[karmic]] [[merit]] or {{Wiki|demerit}} based on that [[action]], regardless of which {{Wiki|individual}} actually carries out the [[action]]. The [[fruition]] of their [[merit]] or {{Wiki|demerit}}, however, will not necessarily be [[experienced]] by each of the {{Wiki|individuals}} together, and/or at the same [[time]]. |
+ | |||
+ | Likewise, "[[family]] [[karma]]" is possible only when it refers to [[karmic]] dispositions which are similar in each {{Wiki|individual}} [[family]] member. One [[scholar]] points out, "statements concerning group [[karma]] . . .are [[subject]] to {{Wiki|conceptual}} {{Wiki|confusion}}. It is important to distinguish group [[karma]] from what might be termed conjunctive [[karma]], that is, the [[karmic]] residues which we [[experience]] as a result of the [[actions]] of everyone or everything operating casually in the situation, but which are justified by our [[own]] [[accumulated]] [[karma]]. . . the [[actions]] of many persons . . .mediate our [[karma]] to us. But this is not group [[karma]], for the effect which we [[experience]] is justified by our [[own]] particular acts or pool of [[karma]], and not by the [[karmic]] acts or pool of the group, even though it is mediated by the [[actions]] of others." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===Is [[karma]] just "{{Wiki|social}} {{Wiki|conditioning}}?"=== | ||
+ | |||
− | + | [[Buddhist]] modernists also often prefer to equate [[karma]] with {{Wiki|social}} {{Wiki|conditioning}}, in contradistinction with, as one [[scholar]] puts it, "early texts [which] give us little [[reason]] to interpret '{{Wiki|conditioning}}' as the infusion into the [[Wikipedia:Psyche (psychology)|psyche]] of external {{Wiki|social}} norms, or of [[awakening]] as simply transcending all [[psychological]] {{Wiki|conditioning}} and {{Wiki|social}} roles. [[Karmic]] {{Wiki|conditioning}} drifts {{Wiki|semantically}} toward '{{Wiki|cultural}} {{Wiki|conditioning}}' under the [[influence]] of {{Wiki|western}} [[discourses]] that elevate the {{Wiki|individual}} over the {{Wiki|social}}, {{Wiki|cultural}}, and institutional. The [[traditional]] import of the [[karmic]] {{Wiki|conditioning}} process, however, is primarily [[ethical]] and soteriological—actions [[condition]] circumstances in this and {{Wiki|future}} [[lives]]." | |
− | |||
− | [[Essentially]], this understanding limits the scope of the [[traditional]] understanding of [[karmic]] effects so that it encompasses only saṃskāras—habits, dispositions and tendencies—and not external effects, while at the same [[time]] expanding the scope to include {{Wiki|social}} conditioning that does not particularly involve [[volitional]] [[action]]. | + | [[Essentially]], this [[understanding]] limits the scope of the [[traditional]] [[understanding]] of [[karmic]] effects so that it encompasses only saṃskāras—habits, dispositions and tendencies—and not external effects, while at the same [[time]] expanding the scope to include {{Wiki|social}} {{Wiki|conditioning}} that does not particularly involve [[volitional]] [[action]]. |
{{W}} | {{W}} | ||
+ | {{NewSourceBreak}} | ||
+ | {{DisplayImages|1474|2352|2324|304|76}} | ||
+ | When [[people]] are [[happy]] and contented, they tend to take [[life]] for granted. It is when they [[suffer]], when they find [[life]] difficulty, that they begin to search for a [[reason]] and a way out of their difficulty. They may ask why some are born in {{Wiki|poverty}} and [[suffering]], while others are born in [[fortunate]] circumstances. Some [[people]] believe that it is due to [[fate]], chance, or an {{Wiki|invisible}} [[power]] beyond their control. They [[feel]] that they are unable to live the [[life]] they [[desire]] so as to [[experience]] [[happiness]] always. Consequently , they become confused and desperate. However, the [[Buddha]] was [[able]] to explain why [[people]] differ in their circumstances and why some are more [[fortunate]] in [[life]] than others. The [[Buddha]] [[taught]] that one’s {{Wiki|present}} [[condition]], whether of [[happiness]] or [[suffering]], is the result of the [[accumulated]] force of all {{Wiki|past}} [[actions]] or [[karma]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Definition]] of [[Karma]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [[Karma]] is intentional [[action]], that is, a [[deed]] done deliberately through [[body]], {{Wiki|speech}} or [[mind]]. [[Karma]] means [[good and bad]] [[Wikipedia:Volition (psychology)|volition]] ([[kusala]] [[Akusala]] Centana). Every [[volitional action]] (except that of a [[Buddha]] or of an [[Arahant]]) is called [[Karma]]. The [[Buddhas]] and [[Arahants]] do not [[accumulate]] fresh [[Karma]] as they have destroy all their [[passions]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | In other words, [[Karma]] is the law of [[moral]] [[causation]]. It is [[action]] and {{Wiki|reaction}} in the [[ethical]] [[realm]]. It is {{Wiki|natural law}} that every [[action]] produces a certain effect. So if one performs [[wholesome]] [[actions]] such as donating [[money]] to charitable organisations, one will [[experience]] [[happiness]]. On the other hand, if one perform [[unwholesome actions]], such ass {{Wiki|killing}} a [[living being]], one will [[experience]] [[suffering]]. This is the [[law of cause and effect]] at work. In this way, the effect of one’s {{Wiki|past}} [[karma]] determine the [[nature]] of one’s {{Wiki|present}} situation in [[life]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Buddha]] said, | ||
+ | <poem> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "According to the seed that is sown, | ||
+ | So is the [[fruit]] you reap | ||
+ | The door of [[good will]] [[gather]] good result | ||
+ | The door of [[evil]] reaps [[evil]] result. | ||
+ | If you plant a good seed well, | ||
+ | Then you will enjoyed the good {{Wiki|fruits}}." | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Karma]] is a law itself. But it does not follow that there should be a law-giver. The [[law of Karma]], too, demands no law giver. It operates in its [[own]] field without the intervention of an external, {{Wiki|independent}} agency. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Principle]] of [[Cause and Effect]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===General [[Principle]]=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | As one sows, so shall one reap. Every effect arises from a [[cause]]. Under certain [[conditions]], a [[cause]] will come to an effect. This is a [[universal]] [[principle]], on which [[Buddhist]] [[morality]] is based. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here's a verse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <poem> | ||
+ | If you want to know the [[causes]] in your {{Wiki|past}} [[life]], | ||
+ | The way you live at {{Wiki|present}} is the effect of your {{Wiki|past}} [[life]]. | ||
+ | If you want to know what your {{Wiki|future}} [[life]] will be, | ||
+ | What you do at {{Wiki|present}} is the [[cause]] of your {{Wiki|future}} [[life]]. | ||
+ | </poem> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the [[world]], some [[beings]] are [[fortunate]] while others are less [[fortunate]]. Some are [[happy]] while others are less [[happy]]. Why? | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Buddha]] has specifically stated that [[Karma]] explains the differences between [[living beings]]. It is also [[Karma]] that explains the circumstances that [[living beings]] find themselves in. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Law of Karma]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [[Karma]] is not [[fate]] nor predestination. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Literally, [[Karma]] means "[[action]]", "to do". | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Action]] itself is considered neither good nor bad, but only the [[intention]] and [[thought]] make it so. Thus, [[Karma]] is an intentional, [[conscious]], deliberate and wilful [[action]]. [[Karma]] is [[Wikipedia:Volition (psychology)|volition]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Every [[action]] must have a {{Wiki|reaction}}, i.e. an effect. The [[truth]] applies both to [[physical world]] (expressed by the great {{Wiki|physicist}} [[Newton]]) and to the [[moral]] [[world]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Law of Karma]] is an important application of the [[Principle]] of [[Cause and Effect]] in [[morality]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The {{Wiki|denial}} of the [[Law]] will destroy all [[moral]] {{Wiki|responsibility}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are two kinds of [[Karma]]: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===[[Good Karma]] ([[Kushala]])=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It means {{Wiki|intelligent}}, or [[skillful]]. It refers to those intentional [[actions]], which are beneficial to oneself and others, springing out from [[kindness]], [[compassion]], [[renunciation]] and [[wisdom]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===[[Bad Karma]] ([[Akushala]])=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It means not {{Wiki|intelligent}}, not [[skillful]]. It refers to those intentional [[action]] springing out from [[greed]], [[hatred]] and [[illusion]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For unintentional [[actions]], such as walking, [[sleeping]], [[breathing]], they have no [[moral]] {{Wiki|consequences}}, thus constitute [[neutral]] [[Karma]] or ineffective [[Karma]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Rebirth]] in Six [[Paths]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | By practicing the [[Ten Good Deeds]] and [[Ten Meritorious Deeds]], the fully ripened [[fruit]] of these [[wholesome actions]] consists of [[rebirth]] in the [[higher realms]] of [[happiness]], i.e. Man, [[Asura]] and [[Deva]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Conversely, the full ripened [[fruit]] of the [[unwholesome]] [[action]] consists of [[rebirth]] in the [[lower realms]] of [[suffering]], i.e. [[Hell]], [[Hungry ghosts]] and [[Animals]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The effect of [[Karma]] may be evident either in short term or in the [[long]] term. [[Karma]] can either [[manifest]] its effects in this very [[life]] or in the next [[life]] or only after several [[lives]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==[[Cause and Condition]]== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Every [[cause]] has its effect. However, there must be [[conditions]] that are ripe for the effect. [[Karma]], be it good or bad, can be affected by the [[conditions]] under which the [[actions]] are performed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[conditions]] that determine the strength or {{Wiki|weight}} of [[Karma]] apply to the [[subject]] and [[object]] of the [[action]]. Moreover, there are five [[conditions]] that modify the strength of [[Karma]]: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | :1. persistent, repeated [[action]] | ||
+ | :2. [[action]] done with great [[intention]] and [[determination]] | ||
+ | :3. [[action]] done without [[regret]] | ||
+ | :4. [[action]] done towards those who possess [[extraordinary]] qualities | ||
+ | :5. [[action]] done towards those who have benefited one in the {{Wiki|past}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though [[Buddhism]] stresses on [[Karma]], it rejects [[fate]]. One should take good [[actions]] all the [[time]], and let all good [[conditions]] arise so that: | ||
+ | :1. [[evil]] retribution has little chance to come to an effect | ||
+ | :2. good retribution becomes more and more significant in enhancing our [[lives]] in [[happiness]] and wellness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{R}} | ||
+ | [http://web.singnet.com.sg/~alankhoo/Karma.htm web.singnet.com.sg/~alankhoo] | ||
+ | [[Category:Buddhism]] | ||
[[Category:Buddhist Terms]] | [[Category:Buddhist Terms]] | ||
[[Category:Karma]] | [[Category:Karma]] | ||
+ | [[Category:Buddhism and Time]] |
Latest revision as of 06:18, 25 March 2024
Click here to see other articles relating to word Karma
Karma (Sanskrit, also karma, Pāli: Kamma) means "action" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.
In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which spring from the intention (Sanskrit: cetanā, Pali: cetana) of an unenlightened being. karma (yin-guo):
It refers to the universal law of cause and effect whereby positive actions produce happiness and negative actions produce suffering.
Karma literally means action or the physical, verbal, or mental acts that imprint habitual tendencies in the mind.
Upon meeting with suitable conditions, these habits ripen and become manifest in future events.
All karma created in the present life and previous lives is stored in the alaya-vijnana or the eighth consciousness.
One’s karma will determine where one goes after death if one is an unenlightened or ordinary being.
It is also important to realize that we cannot fully understand the precise workings of karma. Only a Buddha can do this as the Buddha tells us in the Acintita Sutta (Unconjecturable) .
These bring about a fruit (Sanskrit, Pali: phala) or result (S., P.: vipāka; the two are often used together as vipākaphala), either within the present life, or in the context of a future rebirth.
Other Indian religions have different views on karma. Karma is the engine which drives the wheel of the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth (S., P. saṃsāra) for each being.
In the early texts it is not, however, the only causal mechanism influencing the lives of sentient beings.
As one scholar states, "the Buddhist theory of action and result (karmaphala) is fundamental to much of Buddhist doctrine, because it provides a coherent model of the functioning of the world and its beings, which in turn forms the doctrinal basis for the Buddhist explanations of the path of liberation from the world and its result, nirvāṇa."
Karma is the law of cause and effect embedded in Dependent Origination.
Karma, at its most basic, is our action and the result of that action.
The choices we make with our body, speech and mind affect us and others.
The results can sometimes be seen, yet we are often unaware of them.
Under the right conditions, a butterfly flapping its wings in the Pacific can cause a hurricane in the Atlantic.
Equally, our actions have consequences far beyond our imagining - consequences both for ourselves and others.
Karma is a universal law - a truth of existence
Buddhism places specific emphasis on karma because every action, conscious or unconscious, and its result leaves an imprint on the mind - a sort of forward momentum that influences all successive life events.
Being aware of the law of karma helps reinforce our practice.
The teachings and their guidelines support an individual in creating the right conditions for enlightenment.
And along the way, the teachings help modify our actions (karma) in order to promote happiness for ourselves and others.
Etymology & terms in translation
The word karma derives from the verbal root kṛ, which means "do, make, perform, accomplish."
Karma is "the nominative singular form of the neuter word karman, which means 'act, action, performance, deed.'
In grammatical usage, karman refers to the direct object in a sentence, the recipient of the action indicated by the verb."
In the Devanagari script karma is rendered कर्मन्; the Pāli variant is kamma. The terms in translation are as follows: Traditional Chinese: 業, yè, Burmese: ကမၼ, Standard Tibetan: ལས། las (pronounced ley), Thai: กรรม gam, Sinhalese: කර්ම karma, Japanese: 業 or ごう, gou.
Karma in the early sutras
In the early sutras, as found in the Pali Canon and the Agamas preserved in Chinese translation, "there is no single major systematic exposition" on the subject of karma and "an account has to be put together from the dozens of places where karma is mentioned in the texts."
Nevertheless, the Buddha emphasized his doctrine of karma to the extent that he was sometimes referred to as kammavada (the [[holder of the view of [karma]]) or kiriyavada (the promulgator of the consequence of karma).
In the Nibbedhika Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 6.63) the Buddha said:
Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect."
In the Upajjhatthana Sutta (AN 5.57), the Buddha states:
- "I am the owner of my karma. I inherit my karma. I am born of my karma. I am related to my karma. I live supported by my karma. Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit."
Intention and the moral quality of actions
According to Buddhist theory, every time a person acts there is some quality of intention at the base of the mind and it is that quality rather than the outward appearance of the action that determines the effect.
If one appears to be benevolent but acts with greed, anger or hatred, then the fruit of those actions will bear testimony to the fundamental intention that lay behind them and will be a cause for future unhappiness.
The Buddha spoke of wholesome actions (P. kusala-kamma, S. kuśala-karma) that result in happiness, and
unwholesome actions (P. akusala-kamma, S. akuśala-karma) that result in unhappiness.
The Buddha also elaborated that it was impossible for virtuous action to produce unfavorable results, and for nonvirtuous action to produce favorable results.
However, although a good deed may produce merit which ripens into wealth, if that deed was done too casually or the intention behind it was not quite pure, that wealth so obtained sometimes cannot be enjoyed (AN.4.392-393).
There are two classes of determined deeds which always produce good or bad results (fixed results, P. niyato-rasi) respectively, and a class of deeds which may produce either good or bad results (non-fixed results, P. aniyato-rasi) presumably depending on the context, although the Buddha does not elaborate (DN 3.217).
Good karma is described as generating merit (P. puñña, S. puñya), whereas bad karma is described as demerit (apuñña/apuñya or pāpa).
Karmic results
- See also: Anatta.
Anatta and moral responsibility
The Buddha most often spoke of karma as the determining factor of the realm of one's subsequent rebirth--for this reason karma is often explained in tandem with rebirth and cosmology.
The Cūlakammavibhanga Sutta ("The Shorter Exposition of Action," Majjhima Nikaya 3.203) is devoted to describing the various rebirths that various kinds of actions produce; negative actions such as killing lead to rebirths in the lower realms such as hell, and virtuous action such as gracious behavior under duress leads to rebirth in the human or other higher realms.
Further, within human rebirths in particular, virtuous actions produce desirable qualities and good fortune such as physical beauty, influence, and so forth, whereas nonvirtuous actions lead to ugliness, poverty, and other misfortunes.
The Mahākammavibhanga Sutta ("The Greater Exposition of Action," MN.3.208) is a similar exposition, with the additional stipulation that other rebirths may intervene between the time of the virtuous or nonvirtuous actions and the rebirth that they impel.
The Buddha denied one could avoid experiencing the result of a karmic deed once it's been committed (AN 5.292).
In the Anguttara Nikaya, it is stated that karmic results are experienced either in this life (P. diṭṭadhammika) or in a future lives (P. samparāyika).
The former may involve a readily observable connection between action and karmic consequence, as when a thief is captured and tortured by the authorities, but the connection need not necessarily be that obvious and in fact usually is not observable.
Among the results which manifest in future lives, five heinous actions:
(P. ànantarika-kamma) provoke a rebirth in hell immediately subsequent to death,
according to the Vinaya:
matricide,
patricide,
killing an arhat,
intentional shedding of a Buddha's blood, and
causing a schism in the sangha (Vinaya 5.128).
Karmic action & karmic results vs. general causes & general results
The Buddha makes a basic distinction between past karma (P. purānakamma) which has already been incurred, and karma being created in the present (P. navakamma).
Therefore in the present one both creates new karma (P. navakamma) and encounters the result of past karma (P. kammavipāka).
Karma in the early canon is also threefold:
Mental action (S. manaḥkarman),
bodily action (S. kāyakarman) and
vocal action (S. vākkarman).
The Buddha's theory of karmic action and effect did not encompass all causes (S. hetu) and results (S. vipāka).
Any given action may cause all sorts of results, but the karmic results are only that subset of results which impinges upon the doer of the action as a consequence of both the moral quality of the action and the intention behind the action.
In the Abhidharma they are referred to by specific names for the sake of clarity, karmic causes being the "cause of results" (S. vipāka-hetu) and the karmic results being the "resultant fruit" (S. vipāka-phala).
As one scholar outlines, "the consequences envisioned by the law of karma encompass more (as well as less) than the observed natural or physical results which follow upon the performance of an action."
The law of karma also applies "specifically to the moral sphere . . not concerned with the general relation between actions and their consequences, but rather with the moral quality of actions and their consequences, such as the pain and pleasure and good or bad experiences for the doer of the act."
The theory of karma is not deterministic, in part because past karma is not viewed as the only causal mechanism causing the present.
In the case of diseases, for instance, he gives a list of other causes which may result in disease in addition to karma (AN.5.110).
The Buddha's theory of moral behavior was not strictly deterministic; it was conditional.
His description of the workings of karma is not an all-inclusive one, unlike that of the Jains.
The Buddha instead gave answers to various questions to specific people in specific contexts, and it is possible to find several causal explanations of behavior in the early Buddhist texts.
In the Buddhist theory of karma, the karmic effect of a deed is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the person who commits the deed and by the circumstances in which it is committed.
A discourse in the Anguttara Nikaya (AN.1.249) indicates this conditionality:
- A certain person has not properly cultivated his body, behavior, thought and intelligence, is inferior and insignificant and his life is short and miserable; of such a person ... even a trifling evil action done leads him to hell. In the case of a person who has proper culture of the body, behavior, thought and intelligence, who is superior and not insignificant, and who is endowed with long life, the consequences of a similar evil action are to be experienced in this very life, and sometimes may not appear at all.
The Buddha declared that the precise working of how karma comes to fruition was one of the four incomprehensibles (P. acinteyya or acinnteyyāni) for anyone without the insight of a Buddha (AN.2.80).
The Buddha sees the workings of karma with his "superhuman eye."
Contemporary scholar Bruce Matthews asserts that the Cūlakammavibhanga Sutta (M.3.203) indicates that karma provokes "tendencies or conditions rather than consequences as such;" presumably he counts the rebirths resulting from karma described in the sutta as "tendencies or conditions" rather than "consequences," although he does not elaborate the point.
In the Lakkhana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 30), the Buddha explains that his thirty-two special physical characteristics are the fruition of past karma.
Karma & Nirvana
There is a further distinction between worldly, wholesome karma that leads to samsāric happiness (like birth in higher realms), and path-consciousness which leads to enlightenment and nirvana.
Therefore, there is samsāric good karma, which leads to worldly happiness, and there is liberating karma—which is supremely good, as it ends suffering forever.
Once one has attained liberation one does not generate any further karma, and the corresponding states of mind are called in Pali Kiriya.
Nonetheless, the Buddha advocated the practice of wholesome actions: "
Refrain from unwholesome actions/
Perform only wholesome ones/
Purify the mind/
This is the teaching of the Enlightened Ones" (Dhp v.183).
In Buddhism, the term karma refers only to samsāric actions, the workings of which are modeled by the twelve nidanas of dependent origination, not actions committed by Arhats and Buddhas.
Incorrect understandings of karma in the early sutras
In Buddhism, karma is not pre-determinism, fatalism or accidentalism, as all these ideas lead to inaction and destroy motivation and human effort.
These ideas undermine the important concept that a human being can change for the better no matter what his or her past was, and they are designated as "wrong views" in Buddhism. The Buddha identified three:
Pubbekatahetuvada: The belief that all happiness and suffering, including all future happiness and suffering, arise from previous karma, and human beings can exercise no [[volition to affect future results (Past-action determinism).
Issaranimmanahetuvada: The belief that all happiness and suffering are caused by the directives of a Supreme Being (Theistic determinism).
Ahetu-appaccaya-vaada: The belief that all happiness and suffering are random, having no cause (Indeterminism or Accidentalism).
Karma is continually ripening, but it is also continually being generated by present actions, therefore it is possible to exercise free will to shape future karma. P.A. Payutto writes, "the Buddha asserts effort and motivation as the crucial factors in deciding the ethical value of these various teachings on kamma."
Systematization of karma theory in the early schools
As the earliest Buddhist philosophical schools developed with the rise of Abhidharma Buddhism, various interpretations developed regarding more refined points of karma.
All were confronted with a central issue, as one scholar summarizes:
- When [the Buddhist understanding of karma is correlated to the Buddhist doctrine of universal impermanence and No-Self, a serious problem arises as to where this trace is stored and what the trace left is.
The problem is aggravated when the trace remains latent over a long period, perhaps over a period of many existences.
The crucial problem presented to all schools of Buddhist philosophy was where the trace is stored and how it can remain in the ever-changing stream of phenomena which build up the individual and what the nature of this trace is.
As the Buddha had not offered elaboration in the early sutras that addresses this, the various schools proposed various similar yet distinct solutions.
As one scholar writes, "In certain cases it is apparent that concern with karma doctrine or vocabulary explanatory thereof played a distinctly causal role in sectarian evolution.
In other cases it is safer to say that the concern for an intelligible karma vocabulary was one among many complex factors that helped give decisive shape and substance to already distinct or emerging sectarian positions."
One scholar summarizes the various orientations as follows:
- Different sects gave different names to their theoretical candidates for the "carrier of the Karma" . .
The following schools are associated with the following entities: Sammitīya—the avipranāśa or 'indestructible', a dharma of the citta-viprayukta class.
Sarvāstivādin/Vaibhāṣika tradition—prāpti and aprāpti or adhesion and non-adhesion, and the avijñapti·rūpa or form that does not indicate.
Sautrāntika tradition—the bīja or seed,
the ekarasa-skandha or aggregate of unique essence,
the mulāntika-skandha or proximate root aggregate and
the paramārtha-pudgala.
Yogācāra/Vijñānavādin tradition—the ālaya-vijñāna or store house consciousness.
Again, the central question that these entities seem to have been constructed to answer is that of how the karmic force inheres in the psychophysical stream without thereby coloring or pervading each discrete moment of that stream.
What accounts for the "idling" or non-active aspect of defilement when a given thought is of a virtuous or morally indeterminate nature?
The Theravādin commentarial tradition
In the Theravāda Abhidhamma and commentarial traditions, karma is taken up at length.
The Abhidhamma Sangaha of Anuruddhācariya offers a treatment of the topic, with an exhaustive treatment in book five (5.3.7).
Of particular interest is the Kathāvatthu, which "alone of the works of the Pali canon is directly concerned with conflicting views within the Buddhistcommunity. . .
A number of the controverted points discussed in the Kathāvatthu relate either directly or indirectly to the notion of kamma."
This involved debate with the Pudgalavādin school, which postulated the provisional existence of the person (S. pudgala, P. puggala) to account for the ripening of karmic effects over time.
The Kathāvatthu also records debate by the Theravādins with the Andhakas (who may have been Mahāsāṃghikas) regarding whether or not old age and death are the result (vipāka) of karma.
The Theravāda maintained that they are not—not, apparently because there is no causal relation between the two, but because they wished to reserve the term vipāka strictly for mental results-- " subjective phenomena arising through the effects of kamma."
The Visuddhimagga states that "the kamma that is the condition for the fruit does not pass on there (to where the fruit is)."
In the canonical Theravāda view of kamma, "the belief that deeds done or ideas seized at the moment of death are particularly significant."
As scholar Peter Harvey notes, "one curious feature of the Abhidamma view of the perceptual process is that the discernments related to the five physical sense organs are always said to be fruitions of karma."
However, in agreement with scholar L.S. Cousins he agrees that the most "plausible" explanation "is that karma affects discernment by determining which of the many phenomena in a person's sensory range are actually noticed . . in the same room, for example, one person naturally tends to notice certain things which give rise to pleasure, while another tends to notice things which give rise to some displeasure."
As karma is not the only causal agent, the Theravādin commentarial tradition classified causal mechanisms taught in the early texts in five categories, known as Niyama Dhammas:
- Kamma Niyama — Consequences of one's actions
- Utu Niyama — Seasonal changes and climate
- Biija Niyama — Laws of heredity
- Citta Niyama — Will of mind
- Dhamma Niyama — Nature's tendency to produce a perfect type
The Theravāda Abhidhamma also categories karma in other ways:
With regard to function
- Reproductive karma (janaka-kamma) - karma which produces the mental and material aggregates at the moment of conception, conditioning the rebirth-consciousness (patisandhi vinnana).
- Supportive karma (upatthambhaka kamma) - karma ripening in one's lifetime which is of the same favorable or unfavorable quality as the reproductive karma which impelled the rebirth in question.
That is to say, in the case of an animal with an unpleasant life, the karma creating unpleasant conditions would be considered supportive of the reproductive karma which impelled what is considered an unfavorable rebirth.
- Obstructive or counteractive karma (upapiḍaka kamma) - the reverse of the former.
In the example of the animal, an animal with a pleasant life would be said to have obstructive rather than supportive karma in relation to his reproductive karma.
- Destructive karma (upaghātaka kamma) - karma powerful enough to conteract the reproductive karma entirely, by ending the life in question.
With regard to potency
- Weighty kamma (garuka kamma) — that which produces its results in this life or in the next for certain, namely, the five heinous crimes (ānantarika-kamma)
- Proximate kamma (āsanna kamma) — that which one does or remembers immediately before the dying moment
- Habitual kamma (āciṇṇa kamma) — that which one habitually performs and recollects and for which one has a great liking
- Reserve kamma (kaṭattā kamma) — refers to all actions that are done once and soon forgotten
With regard to temporal precedence
- Immediately effective kamma - (diţţhadhammavedaniya kamma) - in the present lifetime
- Subsequently effective kamma - (upapajjavedaniya kamma) - in the immediately following lifetime
- Indefinitely effective kamma - (aṗarāpariyavedaniya kamma) - in lifetimes two or more in the future
- Defunct kamma (ahosi kamma) - (kamma whose effects have ripened already
With regard to the realm-setting of the effect
- Unwholesome (akusala) kamma pertaining to the desire realm (kamavacara)
- Wholesome (kusala) kamma pertaining to the desire realm (kamavacara)
- Wholesome kamma pertaining to the form realm (rupavacara)
- Wholesome kamma pertaining to the formless realm (arupavacara)
The Milindapañha and Petavatthu
The Milindapañha, a paracanonical Theravāda text, offers some interpretations of karma theory at variance with the orthodox position.
In particular, Nāgasena allows for the possibility of the transfer of merit to humans and one of the four classes of petas, perhaps in deference to folk belief (see below, The transfer or dedication of merit).
Nāgasena makes it clear that demerit cannot be transferred.
One scholar asserts that the sharing of merit "can be linked to the Vedic śrāddha, for it was Buddhist practice not to upset existing traditions when well-established custom was not antithetic to Buddhist teaching."
The Petavatthu, which is fully canonical, endorses the transfer of merit even more widely, including the possibility of sharing merit with all petas.
The Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin school and the Abhidharma-kośa
The Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda, which had by far the most "comprehensive edifice of doctrinal systematics" of the nikaya schools, was widely influential in India and beyond--"the understanding of karma in the Sarvāstivāda in turn became normative not only for Buddhism in India but also for it in other countries."
The Abhidharmahṛdaya by Dharmaśrī was the first systematic exposition of Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda doctrine, and the third chapter, the Karma-varga, deals with the concept of karma systematically.
Another important exposition, the Mahāvibhāṣa, gives three definitions of karma:
For the first usage, karma is supplanted in the text by the synonyms kriya or karitra, both of which mean "activity."
The third usage, karma as that which links certain actions with certain effects, is the primary concern of the exposition.
The 4th century philosopher Vasubandhu compiled the Abhidharma-kośa, an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin school on a wide range of issues raised by the early sutras.
Chapter four the Kośa is devoted to a study of karma, and chapters two and five contain formulation as to the mechanism of fruition and retribution.
This became the main source of understanding of the perspective of early Buddhism for later Mahāyāna philosophers.
The notion of avijñapti—an unseen latent power that is nonetheless momentary—is significant to the Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin accounting of how karmic action precipitates karmic results.
Vasubhandu elaborates on the causes (S. hetu, Tib. rgyu) and conditions (S. pratyaya, Tib. rkyen, Pāli: paccaya) involved in the production of results (S. vipākaphalam, Tib. rnam-smin-gyi 'bras-bu), karma being one source of causes and results, the "ripening cause" and "ripened result."}
Generally speaking, the conditions can be thought of as auxiliary causes.
Vasubhandhu draws from the earlier Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma treatises to establish an elaborate Buddhist etiology with the following primary components:
Six Causes
- Acting causes (S. kāraṇahetu, T. byed-rgyu) – all phenomena, other than the result itself, which do not impede the production of the result.
This includes
- Simultaneously arising causes (S. sahabhuhetu, T. lhan-cig 'byung-ba'i rgyu) – causes that arise simultaneously with their results. This would include, for instance, characteristics together with whatever it is that possesses the characteristics.
- Congruent causes ( Skt. saṃmprayuktahetu, T. mtshungs-ldan-gyi rgyu) – a subcategory of simultaneously arising causes, it includes causes share the same focal object, mental aspect, cognitive sensor, time, and slant with their causes—primarily referring to the primary consciousness and its congruent mental factors.
- Equal status cause (S. sabhagahetu, T. skal-mnyam-gyi rgyu ) – causes for which the results are later moments in the same category of phenomena. For example, one moment of patience can be considered the cause of the next moment of patience.
- Driving causes (S. sarvatragohetu, T. kun groi rgyu) – disturbing emotions and attitudes that generate other subsequent disturbing emotions and attitudes in the same plane of existence, though the two need not be of the same ethical status.
- Ripening cause (Skt. vipākahetu, T. rnam-smin-gyi rgyu) - the karmic cause or efficacy.
- Causal conditions (S. hetupratyaya, T. rgyu-rkyen) - corresponds to five of the six causes, excepting the kāraṇahetu, which corresponds to the three conditions below
- Immediately preceding conditions (S. samanantarapratyaya, T. dema thag rkyen) - a consciousness which precedes a sense or mental consciousness without any intervening consciousness and which produces the subsequent consciousness into an experience-ready entity
- Focal condition (S. alambanapratyaya, T. dmigs-rkyen) - or "object condition" - an object which directly generates the consciousness apprehending it into having its aspect, e.g. the object blue causes an eye consciousness to be generated into having the aspect of blue
- Dominating condition (S. adhipatipratyaya, T. bdag-rkyen) -
Five Types of Results:
- Ripened results (S. vipakaphalam, T. rnam smin gyi 'bras-bu) - karmic results.
- Results that correspond to their cause (S. niṣyandaphalam, T. rgyu-mthun gyi 'bras-bu) - causally concordant effects
- Dominating results (S. adhipatiphalam, bdag poi bras bu) - the result of predominance. All conditioned dharmas are the adhipatiphala of other conditioned dharmas.
- Man-made results (S. puruṣakāraphalam, T. skyes bu byed-pa'i 'bras-bu) - a result due to the activity of another dharma
- Results that are states of being parted (S. visamyogaphalam, T. bral 'bras) - not actually a result at all, but refers to the cessation that arises from insight.
The Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika view
The Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika school pioneered the idea of karmic seeds (S. bija) and "the special modification of the psycho-physical series" (S. saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa) to explain the workings of karma.
The Pudgalavāda view
Although the views of the Pudgalavāda were considered somewhat heretical by other Indian Buddhist schools, they were in all likelihood the most populous non-Mahayanist sect in India, estimated at between a quarter of all non-Mahayana monks up to double the number of the next largest sect. According to scholar Joseph Walser,
- The Pudgalavādins argued that karma was a composite entity consisting of several temporal components and one atemporal one. Following the Buddhists sūtras, they claimed that mental saṃskāras (mental formations corresponding to karma) were of the nature of volition. Vocal and bodily karma, however, consisted only of the motion (gati) that could be observed. The motion itself is conditioned and therefore impermanent. The Pudgalavādins were, however, aware that the Buddha also taught the persistence of karma. In this the Pudgalavādins appealed to a text that was also considered authoritative by the Sarvāstivādins:
“Karma does not perish, even after hundreds of millions of cosmic eras. When the complex [of conditions and (favorable) times come together, they ripen for their author.” One particular subsect of Pudgalavādins—-the Saṃitīyas—-took the imperishability of karma to be one thing and the causes and conditions of karma to be another. They posited the existence of an entity called, appropriately enough, the “indestructible” (avipraṇāśa), separate from the karma itself. This “indestructible” acts like a blank sheet of paper on which the actions (karma) are written.
- . . .The Pudgalavādin Abhidharma puts a definite spin on the sūtra tradition in their claims that karma persisted because of avipraṇāśa (in the case of the Saṃitīyas) and in claiming that pudgala was neither saṃsṛkta nor asaṃsṛkta (in the case of all Pudgalavādins). Yet the payoff for these maneuvers was sufficient to warrant such a move.. . in positing an avipraṇāśa, the Saṃitīyas could appeal to the words of the Buddha saying that karma was indestructible. By claiming that the pudgala was existent, they could meaningfully talk about the owner of karma while at the same time be able to explain how this owner could move from saṃsāra to nirvaṇā."
Karma theory in Mahāyāna schools
Transfer or dedication of merit
Initially in the western study of Buddhism, some scholars believed that the transfer of merit was at first a uniquely Mahāyāna practice and that it was developed only at a late period, perceiving that it was somewhat discordant with early Buddhist understandings of karma theory. Scholar Heinz Bechert dates the Buddhist doctrine of transfer of merit (Sanskrit: puṇyapariṇāmanā) in its fully developed form to the period between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. However, Sree Padma and Anthony Barber note that merit transfer was well established and a very integral part of Buddhist practice in the Andhra region of southern India. In addition, inscriptions at numerous sites across South Asia provide definitive evidence that the transfer of merit was widely practiced in the first few centuries CE.
As scholar D. Seyfort Ruegg notes,
- An idea that has posed a number of thorny questions and conceptual difficulties for Buddhist thought and the history of the Mahāyāna is that often referred to as 'transfer of merit' (puṇyapariṇāmanā). The process of pariṇāmanā (Tib. yons su bsno ba) in fact constitutes a most important feature in Mahāyāna, where it denotes what might perhaps best be termed the dedication of good (puṇya, śubha, kuśala(mula); Tib. bsod nams, dge ba'i rtsa ba) by an exercitant in view of the attainment by another karmically related person (such as a deceased parent or teacher) of a higher end. Yet such dedication appears, prima facie, to run counter to the karmic principle of the fruition or retribution of deeds (karmavipāka).
Generally accepted in Buddhism, both Mahāyānist and non-Mahāyānist, this principle stipulates that a karmic fruit or result (karmaphala) is 'reaped', i.e. experienced, solely by the person - or more precisely by the conscious series (saṃtāna) - that has sown the seed of future karmic fruition when deliberately (cetayitva) accomplishing an action (karman).
- The related idea of acquisition/possession (of 'merit', Pali patti, Skt. prāpti), of assenting to and rejoicing in it (pattānumodanā), and even of its gift (pattidāna) are known to sections of the Theravāda tradition; and this concept - absent in the oldest canonical texts in Pali, but found in later Pali tradition (Petavatthu, Buddhāpadāna) - has been explained by some writers as being due to Mahāyānist influence, and by reference to Nalinaksha Dutt's category of 'semi-Mahāyāna.'
Scholar Tommi Lehtonen notes that (fellow scholar) "Wolfgang Schumann says that that "the Mahāyāna teaching of the transfer of merit `breaks the strict causality of the Hinayānic law of karman (P. kamma) according to which everybody wanting better rebirth can reach it solely by his own efforts’ . Yet, Schumann claims that on this point Mahāyāna and Hinayāna differ only in the texts, for the religious practice in South East Asia acknowledges the transference of karmic merit (P. pattidāna) in Theravāda as well."
Karma theory in Indian Yogācāra philosophy
In the Yogācāra philosophical tradition, one of the two principal Mahāyāna schools, the principle of karma was extended considerably. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma. Karmic seeds (S. bija) are said to be stored in the "storehouse consciousness" (S. ālayavijñāna) until such time as they ripen into experience. The term vāsāna ("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra.
The Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective. According to scholar Dan Lusthaus, "Vasubandhu's Viṃśatikā (Twenty Verses) repeatedly emphasizes in a variety of ways that karma is intersubjective and that the course of each and every stream of consciousness (vijñāna-santāna, i.e., the changing individual) is profoundly influenced by its relations with other consciousness streams."
As one scholar argues, whereas in earlier systems it "was not clear how a series of completely mental events (the deed and its traces) could give rise to non-mental, material effects," with the (purported) idealism of the Yogācāra system this is not an issue.
The Mahayana Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-sutra) also is perhaps suggestive of the Mahāyāna tendency to attribute all happiness and suffering to karmic ripening:
- The happiness and suffering of all beings,
- are due to karma, the Sage taught;
- Karma arises from diverse acts,
- which in turn create the diverse classes of beings
In Mahāyāna traditions, karma is not the sole basis of rebirth. The rebirths of bodhisattvas after the seventh stage (S. bhūmi) are said to be consciously directed for the benefit of others still trapped in saṃsāra. Thus, theirs are not uncontrolled rebirths.
Karma theory in Indo-Tibetan Mādhyamaka philosophy
Nāgārjuna articulated the difficulty in forming a karma theory in his most prominent work, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way): If (the act) lasted till the time of ripening, (the act) would be eternal. If (the act) were terminated, how could the terminated produce a fruit? The Mūlamadhyamakavṛtty-Akutobhayā, also generally attributed to Nāgārjuna, concludes that it is impossible both for the act to persist somehow and also for it to perish immediately and still have efficacy at a later time.
Mādhyamaka schools deriving from Nāgārjuna subsequently took one of two approaches to the problem. The Svātantrika-Mādhyamaka generally borrowed the philosophy of karma from the Yogācāra. The Prāsaṅgika-Mādhyamaka refuted every concept of a support for ongoing karmic efficacy, while nevertheless postulating that a potential (T. nus pa) is formed which substantiates whenever the situation is ripe. Candrakīrti, the definitive exponent of Prāsaṅgika, argued that because this potential is not a thing, that is, not an "inherently real phenomenon," it does not need to be supported in any way. One scholar argues that "in India, the Prāsaṅgikas' various viewpoints of karma were never organized into a coherent and convincing system."
In Tibet
Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, argued that the Prāsaṅgika position allowed for the postulation of something called an "act's cessation" (las zhig pal) which persists and is in fact a substance (rdzas or dngos po, S. vastu), and which explains the connection between cause and result. Gorampa, an important philosopher of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, accused Tsongkhapa of a doctrinal innovation not legitimately grounded in Candrakīrti's work, and one which amounted to little more than a (non-Buddhist) Vaiśeṣika concept. Gelugpa scholars offered defenses of the idea.
Karma theory in East Asian Buddhism
Zen and karma
Dōgen Kigen argued in his Shobogenzo that karmic latencies are emphatically not empty, going so far as to claim that belief in the emptiness of karma should be characterized as "non-Buddhist," although he also states that the “law of karman has no concrete existence.”
Tendai
The Japanese Tendai/Pure Land teacher Genshin taught that Amida Buddha has the power to destroy the karma that would otherwise bind one in saṃsāra.
Karma in Vajrayana
In the Vajrayana tradition, it is believed that the effects of negative past karma can be "purified" through such practices as meditation on Vajrasattva. The performer of the action, after having purified the karma, does not experience the negative results he or she otherwise would have.
The Karma Buddha family in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
The dhyani Buddhas, also called Five Wisdom Buddhas, are built on five Buddha families (Kullas, Buddhakula). One of them is named the Karma family presided by Buddha Amoghasiddhi. The symbol/emblem of that family is the double vajra.
Modern interpretations and controversies
Karma theory & social justice
Since the exposure of the West to Buddhism, some western commentators and Buddhists have taken exception to aspects of karma theory, and have proposed revisions of various kinds. These proposals fall under the rubric of Buddhist modernism. As one scholar writes, "Some modern Buddhist thinkers appear largely to have abandoned traditional views of karma and rebirth in light of the contemporary transformation of the conception of interdependence," preferring instead to align karma purely with contemporary ideas of causality. One scholar writes, "it is perhaps possible to say that both Buddhism and Buddhist ethics may be better off without the karmic-rebirth factor to deal with." Often these critical writers have backgrounds in Zen and/or Engaged Buddhism.
The "primary critique" of the Buddhist doctrine of karma is that some feel "karma may be socially and politically disempowering in its cultural effect, that without intending to do this, karma may in fact support social passivity or acquiescence in the face of oppression of various kinds." Dale S. Wright, a scholar specializing in Zen Buddhism, has proposed that the doctrine be reformulated for modern people, "separated from elements of supernatural thinking," so that karma is asserted to condition only personal qualities and dispositions rather than rebirth and external occurrences.
One scholar and Zen practitioner, David Loy, echoes these remarks. He writes, "what are we going to do about karma? There's no point in pretending that karma hasn't become a problem for contemporary Buddhism . .Buddhism can fit quite nicely into modern ways of understanding. But not traditional views of karma." Loy argues that the traditional view of karma is "fundamentalism" which Buddhism must "outgrow."
Loy argues that the idea of accumulating merit too easily becomes "spirtitual materialism," a view echoed by other Buddhist modernists, and further that
- Karma has been used to rationalize racism, caste, economic oppression, birth handicaps and everything else. Taken literally, karma justifies the authority of political elites, who therefore must deserve their wealth and power, and the subordination of those who have neither. It provides the perfect theodicy: if there is an infallible cause-and-effect relationship between one's actions and one's fate, there is no need to work toward social justice, because it's already built into the moral fabric of the universe. In fact, if there is no undeserved suffering, there is really no evil that we need to struggle against. It will all balance out in the end.
While some strands of later Buddhist thought did attribute all experience to past karma, the early texts explicitly did not, and in particular state that caste is not determined by karma.
Loy goes on to argue that the view that suffering such as that undergone by Holocaust victims could be attributed in part to the karmic ripenings of those victims is "fundamentalism, which blames the victims and rationalizes their horrific fate," and that this is "something no longer to be tolerated quietly. It is time for modern Buddhists and modern Buddhism to outgrow it" by revising or discarding the teachings on karma. Other scholars have argued, however, that the teachings on karma do not encourage judgment and blame, given that the victims were not the same people who committed the acts, but rather were just part of the same mindstream-continuum with the past actors, and that the teachings on karma instead provide "a thoroughly satisfying explanation for suffering and loss" in which believers take comfort.
The question of the Holocaust also occurs in the Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Re-Discovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India, which describes a group of Jewish religious leaders who meet with the Dalai Lama. They ask one of the Dalai Lama's party, a Buddhist scholar named Geshe Sonam Rinchen, if the Holocaust would be attributed to past karma in the traditional Buddhist view, and he affirms that it would. The author is "shocked and a little outraged," because, like Loy, he felt it "sounded like blaming the victim."
Many modern Buddhists such as Thich Nhat Hanh prefer to suggest the "dispersion of karmic responsibility into the social system," such that "moral responsibility is decentered from the solitary individual and spread throughout the entire social system," reflecting the left-wing politics of Engaged Buddhism.
Is there collective or national karma?
Other modern Buddhists have sought to formulate theories of group, collective and national karma which are not found in traditional Buddhist thinking. The earliest recorded instance of this occurred in 1925, when a member of the Maha Bodhi named Sheo Narain published an article entitled "Karmic Law" in which he invited Buddhist scholars to explore the question of whether an individual is "responsible not only for his individual actions in his past life but also for past communal deeds."
As one scholar writes, "a systematic concept of group karma was in no sense operative in early Theravada" or other schools based on the early sutras. "Instead," he writes, "the repeated emphasis in the canonical discussions of karma is on the individual as heir to his own deeds. It is only in this century, then, that one finds a conscious effort to split with this tradition."
Buddhism does not deny that the actions taken by one generation of the citizens of a given country will have effects on later generations, for example. However, as noted above, all effects of actions are not karmic effects. Karmic effects impinge only on the mindstreams of those sentient beings who perform the actions. As Nyanatiloka Mahathera writes, individuals
- should be responsible for the deeds formerly done by this so-called 'same' people. In reality, however, this present people may not consist at all of the karmic heirs of the same individuals who did these bad deeds. According to Buddhism it is of course quite true that anybody who suffers bodily, suffers for his past or present bad deeds. Thus also each of those individuals born within that suffering nation, must, if actually suffering bodily, have done evil somewhere, here or in one of the innumerable spheres of existence; but he may not have had anything to do with the bad deeds of the so-called nation. We might say that through his evil Karma he was attracted to the miserable condition befitting to him. In short, the term Karma applies, in each instance, only to wholesome and unwholesome volitional activity of the single individual.
Thus, in the traditional view the effects of the actions of other beings—such as the leader of one's country, or prior generations of its citizens—might well serve as causes of suffering for an individual on one level, but not they would not be the karmic causes of the suffering of that individual—those causes would function in congruence with the karmic causes. There is, therefore, no "national karma" in traditional Buddhism. One "scholar of engaged Buddhism" wrote an article asserting that the "collective karma" of the United States deriving from the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse would potentially "play out for generations," a view that is not supported by traditional Buddhist views of karma. The effects may well be felt by Americans for generations, but they would not constitute "collective karma."
"Collective karma" could be spoken of only in certain limited senses in the canonical tradition. In Vasubandu's Karmasiddhiprakarana, among other places, it is asserted that a group of individuals who collaborate and share the same intention for a planned action will all incur karmic merit or demerit based on that action, regardless of which individual actually carries out the action. The fruition of their merit or demerit, however, will not necessarily be experienced by each of the individuals together, and/or at the same time.
Likewise, "family karma" is possible only when it refers to karmic dispositions which are similar in each individual family member. One scholar points out, "statements concerning group karma . . .are subject to conceptual confusion. It is important to distinguish group karma from what might be termed conjunctive karma, that is, the karmic residues which we experience as a result of the actions of everyone or everything operating casually in the situation, but which are justified by our own accumulated karma. . . the actions of many persons . . .mediate our karma to us. But this is not group karma, for the effect which we experience is justified by our own particular acts or pool of karma, and not by the karmic acts or pool of the group, even though it is mediated by the actions of others."
Is karma just "social conditioning?"
Buddhist modernists also often prefer to equate karma with social conditioning, in contradistinction with, as one scholar puts it, "early texts [which] give us little reason to interpret 'conditioning' as the infusion into the psyche of external social norms, or of awakening as simply transcending all psychological conditioning and social roles. Karmic conditioning drifts semantically toward 'cultural conditioning' under the influence of western discourses that elevate the individual over the social, cultural, and institutional. The traditional import of the karmic conditioning process, however, is primarily ethical and soteriological—actions condition circumstances in this and future lives."
Essentially, this understanding limits the scope of the traditional understanding of karmic effects so that it encompasses only saṃskāras—habits, dispositions and tendencies—and not external effects, while at the same time expanding the scope to include social conditioning that does not particularly involve volitional action.
Source
When people are happy and contented, they tend to take life for granted. It is when they suffer, when they find life difficulty, that they begin to search for a reason and a way out of their difficulty. They may ask why some are born in poverty and suffering, while others are born in fortunate circumstances. Some people believe that it is due to fate, chance, or an invisible power beyond their control. They feel that they are unable to live the life they desire so as to experience happiness always. Consequently , they become confused and desperate. However, the Buddha was able to explain why people differ in their circumstances and why some are more fortunate in life than others. The Buddha taught that one’s present condition, whether of happiness or suffering, is the result of the accumulated force of all past actions or karma.
Definition of Karma
Karma is intentional action, that is, a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind. Karma means good and bad volition (kusala Akusala Centana). Every volitional action (except that of a Buddha or of an Arahant) is called Karma. The Buddhas and Arahants do not accumulate fresh Karma as they have destroy all their passions.
In other words, Karma is the law of moral causation. It is action and reaction in the ethical realm. It is natural law that every action produces a certain effect. So if one performs wholesome actions such as donating money to charitable organisations, one will experience happiness. On the other hand, if one perform unwholesome actions, such ass killing a living being, one will experience suffering. This is the law of cause and effect at work. In this way, the effect of one’s past karma determine the nature of one’s present situation in life.
The Buddha said,
"According to the seed that is sown,
So is the fruit you reap
The door of good will gather good result
The door of evil reaps evil result.
If you plant a good seed well,
Then you will enjoyed the good fruits."
Karma is a law itself. But it does not follow that there should be a law-giver. The law of Karma, too, demands no law giver. It operates in its own field without the intervention of an external, independent agency.
Principle of Cause and Effect
General Principle
As one sows, so shall one reap. Every effect arises from a cause. Under certain conditions, a cause will come to an effect. This is a universal principle, on which Buddhist morality is based.
Here's a verse.
If you want to know the causes in your past life,
The way you live at present is the effect of your past life.
If you want to know what your future life will be,
What you do at present is the cause of your future life.
In the world, some beings are fortunate while others are less fortunate. Some are happy while others are less happy. Why?
The Buddha has specifically stated that Karma explains the differences between living beings. It is also Karma that explains the circumstances that living beings find themselves in.
Law of Karma
Karma is not fate nor predestination.
Literally, Karma means "action", "to do".
Action itself is considered neither good nor bad, but only the intention and thought make it so. Thus, Karma is an intentional, conscious, deliberate and wilful action. Karma is volition.
Every action must have a reaction, i.e. an effect. The truth applies both to physical world (expressed by the great physicist Newton) and to the moral world.
Law of Karma is an important application of the Principle of Cause and Effect in morality.
The denial of the Law will destroy all moral responsibility.
There are two kinds of Karma:
Good Karma (Kushala)
It means intelligent, or skillful. It refers to those intentional actions, which are beneficial to oneself and others, springing out from kindness, compassion, renunciation and wisdom.
Bad Karma (Akushala)
It means not intelligent, not skillful. It refers to those intentional action springing out from greed, hatred and illusion.
For unintentional actions, such as walking, sleeping, breathing, they have no moral consequences, thus constitute neutral Karma or ineffective Karma.
Rebirth in Six Paths
By practicing the Ten Good Deeds and Ten Meritorious Deeds, the fully ripened fruit of these wholesome actions consists of rebirth in the higher realms of happiness, i.e. Man, Asura and Deva.
Conversely, the full ripened fruit of the unwholesome action consists of rebirth in the lower realms of suffering, i.e. Hell, Hungry ghosts and Animals.
The effect of Karma may be evident either in short term or in the long term. Karma can either manifest its effects in this very life or in the next life or only after several lives.
Cause and Condition
Every cause has its effect. However, there must be conditions that are ripe for the effect. Karma, be it good or bad, can be affected by the conditions under which the actions are performed.
The conditions that determine the strength or weight of Karma apply to the subject and object of the action. Moreover, there are five conditions that modify the strength of Karma:
- 1. persistent, repeated action
- 2. action done with great intention and determination
- 3. action done without regret
- 4. action done towards those who possess extraordinary qualities
- 5. action done towards those who have benefited one in the past.
Though Buddhism stresses on Karma, it rejects fate. One should take good actions all the time, and let all good conditions arise so that:
- 1. evil retribution has little chance to come to an effect
- 2. good retribution becomes more and more significant in enhancing our lives in happiness and wellness.